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THE  BALANCE  WHEEL 


ELLEN  COUGHLIN  KEELER 

t n 


A Condensed  History  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


1880—1920 


WOMAN'S  HOME  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
150  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK  CITY 


Copyright  1920,  by 

WOMAN’S  HOME  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


V. 


To  My  Children 

Who  have  played  Indian,  Eskimo 
and  Immigrant  under  my  study 
window. 

To  My  Parents 

Who  have  cared  for  these  Home 
Guards. 

To  My  Husband 

Without  whose  encouragement  and 
help  this  book  could  not  have  been 
written. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  THE  BALANCE  WHEEL 11 

A Balance  Wheel — How — General  Condition  of  the  Country, 

1880 — Calls  to  the  work — Organization — Beginnings 

II.  REMODELING  THE  CABIN 21 

Thayer  Home — Haven  Home — Mary  Haven  Home — Boylan 
Home — Brewster  Hospital — Emerson  Memorial  Home — 
Simpson  Memorial  Home — Allen  Home — Browning  Home 
— Kent  Home — New  Jersey  Home — Adeline  Smith  Home — 

E.  L.  Rust  Home — Peck  School  of  Domestic  Science  and 
Art — Faith  Kindergarten — King  Home — Eliza  Dee  Home 

III.  IN  MORMON  STRONGHOLDS 47 

Conditions  in  Utah — Mission  stations  and  schools — Scandi- 
navian work — Davis  Deaconess  Home — Ogden  Esther  Home 
— Bingham  Canyon 

IV.  FROM  COMMUNITY  SCHOOLS  TO  COLLEGE  - - 57 

Ritter  Home — Bennett  Academy — Dickson  and  Irving  and 
Florence  Wood  Halls — Rebecca  McCleskey  Home — Ellen 
Augusta  Nottingham  primary  school — Deborah  McCarty 
Settlement — Sayre — Community  schools — Ebenezer  Mit- 
chell Home — Erie  Home 


V.  DEACONESS  AND  HOSPITAL  WORK 


'4 

V, 

Vi 

V 


Bureau  of  local  work — Beginnings  of  deaconess  work;  its  di- 
visions and  bureaus — Distinctive  features — National  train- 
ing-schools: Lucy  Webb  Hayes,  Kansas  City,  McCrum 
Slavonic,  San  Francisco,  Folts,  Iowa  Bible  School,  School 
for  Negro  deaconesses — Conference  training-schools — Dea- 
coness Homes,  Rest  Homes — Deaconess  stations— National 
Hospitals:  Brewster,  Sibley,  Graham,  Ellen  A.  Burge,  Tu- 
berculosis, Rapid  City,  Bethel,  Holden,  Los  Angeles. 


73 


i\  vi. 


KT 
V 


ORIENTAL  ALLIES— HAWAIIAN  PLANTATIONS  - 

Early  legislation — Woman’s  Missionary  Society  of  the  Pacific 
Coast — Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society — Oriental  Home 
— Rescue  Work — Earthquake  and  fire — New  home — Ellen 
Stark  Ford  Home — Jane  Couch  Memorial  Home — Katherine 
Blaine  Home — Work  in  Hawaii — Susannah  Wesley  Home 

'^ocsas 


99 


117 


VII.  WAYSIDE  STATIONS  IN  ALASKA  - 

Schools  and  Missionaries — Jesse  Lee  Home — Temporary  clos- 
ing of  the  work — Hospital — Lavinia  Wallace  Young  mission 
— Hilah  Seward  Home 

VIII.  BORDER  SCHOOLS— SPANISH  AMERICAN  - - - 133 

Harwood — Las  Vegas — Mary  J.  Platt — Frances  De  Pauw — 

Rose  Gregory  Houchen  Settlement — Porto  Rico:  McKinley, 
Woodruff,  Fisk  and  Williams  day  schools — George  O. 
Robinson  Orphanage 

IX.  MOVING  HEARTHSTONES 143 

Early  Indian  work — Navajoes — Apaches — Pawnees — Poncas — 
Pawhuslcas — Pottawatomies — Nooksacks — Yumas — Diggers 
— Yakimas — Work  in  Government  schools 

X.  IMMIGRANT  AND  CITY  WORK  - - - - 159 

Early  conditions — Immigrant  Homes:  Philadelphia,  New  York, 
Boston — Work  at  Angel  Island — City  Settlements:  Glen 
Home — Cincinnati  Esther  Home — Anthracite  Slavonic  Mis- 
sion— Hull  Street  Settlement — Marcy  Center — Chicago 
Esther  Home — Portland  Settlement  Center — Epworth 

Home  for  Girls — Campbell  Settlement 

XI.  THE  RESERVE  ARMY  - - , - - - 175 

Young  People’s  Department — Home  Guards — Mothers’  Jewels 
— Children’s  Homes:  Mother’s  Jewels,  Watts  de  Peyster, 

Peek — Conference  Children’s  Homes : Cunningham,  Brad- 
ley, David  and  Margaret 

XII.  HIGHWAYS  AND  BYWAYS  - - - - - 185 

Lenten  Offering — Day  of  Prayer — National  Organizers — Schools 
of  Missions — College  work 

XIII.  METHODS  -----  - - - 193 

Christian  stewardship — Evangelism — Membership  campaigns 
— Perpetual  membership — Missionary  candidates — Mission- 
ary education — Temperance — War  work — Centenary  Co- 
operation— Woman ’s  Home  Missions — Children ’s  Home  Missions 
— General  publications — Study  courses— Reading  circles 
— Department  of  supplies — Sustentation  bureau 


XIV.  IN  REVIEW 


213 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

Thayer  Home — 1889  - -----  33 

Eliza  Dee  Home — 1917  - - - - - - -33 

Tuberculosis  Hospital,  Albuquerque,  New  Mexico  - - 81 

Methodist  Deaconess  Hospital,  Rapid  City,  South  Dakota  - 81 

Korean  Sisters  from  Ellen  Stark  Ford  Home,  San  Francisco,  Cal.  - 113 


[7] 


THE  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  provide 
a short,  condensed  history  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  those  who 
have  become  members  of  the  Society  with- 
out knowledge  of  its  remarkable  past,  for 
students  in  Home  Mission  Schools,  and  for 
those  who  have  entered  its  magic  circle  of 
service. 

The  source  material  for  this  book  was 
secured  from  the  reports  of  the  correspond- 
ing secretaries,  and  the  bureau  and  depart- 
ment secretaries  published  in  the  annual 
reports  of  the  Society  for  the  last  forty 
years. 


The  Balance  Wheel 


I 


I 


THE  BALANCE  WHEEL 

# * * 

THE  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  is  as  a balance  wheel 
to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  For  forty  years  it  has  supplied 
its  frontier  preachers  with  food,  raiment  and  money.  It  has  opened  up 
missions,  built  churches,  and  supported  supplementary  workers.  Where 
the  men  of  the  Church  could  not  enter,  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  sent  its  women.  When  the  Church  was  not  ready,  it  advanced 
alone  into  the  frozen  North.  When  the  Church  was  overwhelmed,  it 
placed  its  rescue  homes  and  missions  in  the  cities. 

The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  has  been  as  a balance 
wheel  to  the  nation.  It  has  developed  new  industries  and  trades.  It  has 
taught  temperance  and  patriotism.  It  has  entered  law  courts,  halls  of 
legislation,  and  camps  of  war  in  its  function  as  homemaker. 

The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  has  been  as  a balance 
wheel  to  all  races  of  people  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  It  has  taught 
their  boys  and  girls  how  to  read  and  write  and  work  and  worship  God. 
It  has  taught  the  Negro  girl  to  cook,  sew,  make  beds,  sweep,  and  set  a 
house  in  order;  the  Negro  boy  to  plant  and  plow  and  rebuild  his  cabin. 
It  has  shown  the  Indian  how  to  irrigate  the  land,  and  has  coaxed  him 
from  a wigwam  to  a cottage.  It  has  brought  bright-eyed  Spanish- 
American  girls  from  adobe  huts  to  its  spacious  boarding-schools.  For 
forty  years  this  potent  agency  of  Americanization  has  been  at  work.  It 
has  placed  Christian  social  settlements  all  the  way  from  the  Arctic  town 
of  Nome  to  El  Paso,  Texas,  the  gateway  to  old  Mexico;  hospitals  and 
dispensaries  from  Boston  to  Albuquerque;  Industrial  Homes  from  San 
Juan,  Porto  Rico,  to  Tacoma,  Washington.  Its  missions  are  planted 
as  far  west  from  San  Francisco  as  Maine  is  east.  Boats  have  edged 
their  way  along  the  northwestern  coast  laden  with  wood  and  glass  and 
stone  for  its  Industrial  Homes.  Freight  cars  have  travelled  from  state 
to  state  with  boxes  and  barrels  and  supplies  for  its  orphanages.  Homes 

[II] 


and  schools.  The  genius  of  Christian  American  womanhood  is  recorded 
in  the  history  of  these  forty  years. 

General  Condition  of  the  Country,  1880 — Forty  years 
ago,  the  condition  of  the  United  States  seems  to  have  been  much 
like  the  chaos  of  today.  More  than  a decade  had  passed  since  the 
close  of  the  Civil  War,  yet  the  aftermath  of  national  evils  was  so 
pronounced  that  men  were  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  the  nation.  The 
aggressive  institutions  of  the  Mormons,  the  wrongs  of  the  Indians,  the 
fearful  ignorance  and  degradation  of  people  in  New  Mexico  and  the 
Southland,  added  to  the  results  of  sixty  years  of  immigration  from  Euro- 
pean shores,  gave  much  ground  for  apprehension  among  philanthropists, 
statesmen  and  church  leaders. 

Three  agencies  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had  been  doing 
splendid  work  in  the  nation — the  Sunday-school  Union,  the  Church 
Extension  Society,  and  in  the  South,  the  Freedmen’s  Aid  and  South- 
ern Educational  Society.  Outside  of  their  very  specific  work  lay  a vast 
field  of  Christian  opportunity  as  yet  untouched  by  any  organization  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  It  is  but  fair  to  say  that  people  all 
over  the  land  did  not  know  of  the  conditions  existing  in  sections  less 
favored  than  their  own.  A sentiment  was  growing,  however,  among  those 
who  did  know  that  there  was  pressing  need  of  work  among  the  destitute 
people  of  the  South.  It  was  felt  certain  by  them,  that  as  soon  as  Metho- 
dist women  knew  that  millions  of  their  sisters  were  wearing  out  weary 
lives  of  wretchedness  in  homes  of  poverty  and  sin,  as  soon  as  they  realized 
that  multitudes  of  little  children  were  coming  into  these  miserable  homes 
to  enter  upon  lives  of  vice  that  would  be  a menace  to  our  civilization, 
they  would  come  to  their  aid  with  prayers  and  consecrated  giving.  In 
response  to  the  call  of  womanhood  from  the  cabins  of  the  South,  the 
Mormon  harems,  Indian  wigwams,  adobe  houses,  tepees  and  Chinese 
quarters,  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  came  into  being. 

Three  facts  demonstrate  the  peculiar  need  for  this  Society.  First, 
the  Freedmen’s  Aid  Society  and  other  agencies  of  the  Church  interested 
in  establishing  missions  in  the  West  and  South  found  their  efforts  weak- 
ened by  conditions  of  want  and  wretchedness  in  the  homes  of  the  people. 
Tire  work  of  the  schools  was  too  limited,  and  the  influence  was  not  lasting 


[12] 


because  too  temporary.  Students  went  back  to  their  wretched  homes, 
and  were  in  danger  of  lapsing  into  the  old  ways  of  living.  So  few  girls 
were  able  to  get  to  the  schools  that  boys  predominated.  While  in  school 
the  boys  were  constantly  urged  to  advance;  they  were  trained  in  indus- 
tries, and  many  became  teachers,  physicians  and  preachers.  But  if  these 
young  men  were  obliged  to  “marry  ignorant  women  and  return  to  dis- 
orderly cabin  life,  too  many  of  them  would  fall  back  into  their  former 
habits  and  vices.”  This  work  of  ministering  to  the  home  must  of  necessity 
be  done  by  women. 

Second,  efforts  had  been  made  to  have  this  work  done  by  other 
agencies  of  the  church,  but  there  was  no  organization  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  equipped  to  do  it. 

Finally,  there  were  only  70,000  women  in  the  Woman’s  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (the  only 
woman’s  organization)  with  a female  membership  in  the  church  of  one 
million.  These  women  needed  to  have  opened  to  them  this  privilege  and 
opportunity  to  do  the  Lord’s  work.  On  one  side  were  the  wistful  faces 
and  outstretched  hands  of  women  in  dire  distress;  on  the  other  were 
women  richly  endowed  with  temporal  blessings,  trained  minds  and  coura- 
geous faith,  ready  for  the  outpouring  of  Christian  service.  The  need  was 
reciprocal.  The  work  was  distinct  and  clearly  defined. 

The  attention  of  the  new  Society  was  early  turned  to  two  great  points 
of  contact, — Utah  and  the  South.  How  deeply  the  conditions  in  Utah 
were  felt  to  be  woman’s  concern  can  be  seen  from  the  statement  made 
upon  the  occasion  of  asking  for  appropriations  to  be  used  at  Salt  Lake 
City:  “In  view  of  the  peril  of  our  Christian  institutions  from  Mormonism, 
as  women  we  take  deep  interest  in  the  overthrow  of  that  system  of 
iniquity,  and  considering  Christian  education  as  essential  to  the  protection 
of  people  from  this  illusion  we  ask  from  the  Church  $5,000  to  build  a 
home  and  boarding  department  at  Salt  Lake  Seminary.” 

It  seemed  most  fitting  that  the  Society  should  have  turned  toward  the 
Southland  with  its  first  gifts  of  healing.  The  condition  of  the  freedmen 
was  so  pitiable.  They  were  so  destitute;  they  had  peculiar  claim  on 
Christian  people;  it  was  a “land  of  great  promise.”  The  people  lived  in 
sparsely  settled  regions.  Few  towns  numbered  over  3,000  inhabitants. 


[13] 


There  were  no  schools  for  any  of  them  except  in  towns,  and  those  did 
not  accommodate  any  number  of  the  Negro  children. 

For  some  time  before  public  sentiment  had  made  an  organization  such 
as  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  possible,  individuals  moved 
by  intense  interest  in  the  helpless  mass  of  freed  men  and  women  and 
sympathy  for  them,  made  an  attempt  here  and  there  to  alleviate  their 
misery.  They  sent  missionaries  South  into  the  most  needy  localities,  pay- 
ing the  salaries  from  private  purses.  Among  these  pioneers  of  Home 
Missions  were  Mrs.  J.  C.  Hartzell  at  New  Orleans,  working  with  the 
help  and  encouragement  of  the  professors  in  the  Freedmen’s  Aid  Schools; 
and  Bishop  H.  C.  Warren,  who  supported  a missionary  at  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  out  of  his  own  means.  A third  work  established  at  Atlanta 
brought  about  a gift  for  “work  among  Freedwomen”  by  the  mother  of 
Bishop  Gilbert  Haven. 

At  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  July  6,  1 880,  the  Methodist  women  in  that 
vicinity  met  and  formally  organized  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Mrs.  R.  S.  Rust  presiding. 
The  Society  received  its  first  contribution  in  September,  and  sent  out  its 
first  missionary  in  October. 

The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  was  fortunate  in  its  begin- 
nings. There  were  no  precedents  by  which  its  officers  might  be  guided 
as  situations  arose.  But  far  more  useful  to  the  young  Society  than 
precedence  was  the  common  sense,  sagacity  and  executive  ability  of  its 
leaders.  They  showed  caution  without  fear,  courage,  and  wonderful 
enthusiasm.  They  set  about  simply  to  do  for  women  and  children  what 
women  of  all  ages  have  been  best  fitted  to  do, — to  teach  home-making. 
Obstacles  had  to  be  met  which  would  have  taxed  the  ingenuity,  patience 
and  skill  of  the  most  experienced  diplomat.  But  these  good  women  had 
assumed  the  great  responsibility  of  ministering  to  the  womanhood  of  their 
own  land,  and  they  solved  every  difficulty  with  a wisdom  that,  in  the 
light  of  the  present,  is  nothing  short  of  remarkable. 

The  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had 
met  just  previous  to  the  organization  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society,  and  until  1 884  the  Society  “held  its  position  by  courtesy  in  the 
church  and  for  the  church  but  without  constituted  authority  of  the 


[14] 


church.”  In  May,  1 884,  at  Philadelphia,  the  Woman’s  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  received  the  sanction  of  the  General  Conference.  It  was 
given  authority  to  prosecute  its  work  under  its  original  constitution  with 
the  same  relation  to  other  agencies  of  the  church  as  the  Woman’s  Foreign 
Missionary  Society.  At  the  time  that  Methodist  women  were  organizing 
at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  arrangements  were  being  made  in  Philadelphia, 
Penn.,  for  an  organization  there.  It  was  quite  fitting  therefore  that  the 
General  Conference  of  1 884,  while  sitting  at  Philadelphia,  should  receive 
the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  as  one  of  the  benevolent  organi- 
zations of  the  church.  In  order  to  organize  without  the  sanction  of  the 
General  Conference,  it  had  been  necessary  to  get  the  consent  of  each 
Annual  Conference,  before  organizing  therein.  At  the  meeting  of  1 882 
delegates  from  ten  Annual  Conferences  were  present,  while  over  twice 
that  many  had  been  heard  from  and  about  $8,000  was  pledged  to  the 
Society’s  work.  The  first  Conference  organization  was  in  Erie  Confer- 
ence at  Corey,  Penn.  The  first  auxiliary  organized  was  in  St.  Paul’s 
Church,  Delaware,  Ohio. 

The  financial  program  must  necessarily  be  an  important  feature  of 
the  work.  The  managers  faced  a financial  stringency  until  sufficient  time 
had  elapsed  for  the  first  pledges  and  dues  to  be  paid  into  the  general 
treasury.  The  first  year,  when  the  Society’s  first  missionary  went  into 
the  field,  there  was  not  money  enough  in  the  treasury  to  pay  one  month’s 
salary.  During  this  period  a debt  of  $3,000  was  incurred.  It  was 
liquidated  before  the  close  of  the  third  year,  when  the  treasury  carried  a 
balance  of  $4,919,  and  appropriated  $3,600  for  the  year  following. 

Very  early  in  the  work,  the  need  of  trained  workers  became  evident, 
for  no  progress  was  possible  without  women  with  special  knowledge  in 
domestic  science,  a gift  for  teaching,  rare  tact  and  power  for  spiritual 
leadership.  So,  in  order  to  provide  teachers  for  the  Homes  and  schools 
which  the  Society  proposed  to  build,  an  appropriation  of  $3,600  was 
asked  for  in  1 883  to  establish  a missionary  training  school  at  Chicago,  111. 

Again,  thousands  of  promising  young  girls  had  no  means  of  attending 
the  schools  provided  by  the  church.  The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  offered  to  students  an  opportunity  to  meet  a part  of  their  expenses 
by  service.  Fifty  dollars  and  often  twenty-five  dollars  helped  a girl  to 
stay  in  school  a year.  Girls  assisted  in  these  ways  were  called  “bene- 


[15] 


ficiaries.”  The  money  pledged  by  auxiliaries  and  young  people’s  bands 
was  called  “scholarships.”  The  amount  of  the  scholarship  given  at  each 
Home  or  school  varied  according  to  the  locality  and  expenses  of  the 
institution.  The  girls  helped  in  these  ways  were  expected  to  enter  into 
some  phase  of  missionary  work  among  their  own  people  after  they  had 
completed  their  schooling. 

The  task  before  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  now  was 
to  reach  the  greatest  possible  number  of  folks  in  the  shortest  possible 
time,  with  the  least  expenditure  of  money.  In  determining  upon  detailed 
methods  of  work  in  the  Southland,  it  recognized  the  type  of  work  which 
would  be  most  fitting  as  supplemental  to  the(  Freedmen’s  Aid  Society 
work.  The  Freedmen’s  Aid  Society  had  established  schools  all  over  the 
Southland  and  had  become  popular  through  its  acceptable  service  to  the 
Negro  youth.  The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  proposed  to 
establish  homes  and  industrial  departments  by  the  side  of  every  Freed- 
men’s Aid  school  as  fast  as  time  and  finances  would  allow.  There  were 
two  advantages  in  this  method, — the  work  would  be  acceptable  at  once 
by  sharing  the  influence  and  prestige  of  the  Freedmen’s  Aid  schools,  and 
the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  could  reach  the  best  class  of 
girls,  those  who  through  ambition  and  energy  had  reached  these  schools. 
In  the  industrial  department  girls  were  to  be  taught  to  make  and  repair 
clothing,  to  do  general  sewing,  to  cook,  to  do  general  housework,  to  make 
tidy,  comfortable  homes,  so  that  they  might  become  capable  assistants  or 
managers  of  homes,  or  enter  such  trades  as  millinery  and  dress-making 
and  so  become  self-supporting.  In  the  Homes,  careful  attention  was  to 
be  given  to  deportment,  habits  of  personal  cleanliness  and  neatness.  In- 
struction was  also  given  in  the  economic  use  of  money,  care  of  the  sick, 
and  in  the  laws  of  health  and  life.  Young  wives  and  mothers  were  to 
be  admitted  to  the  classes.  That  such  a course  of  study  was  necessary 
to  the  development  of  the  girls  can  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  life  in  the 
cabin  of  the  freedman  and  in  homes  of  the  whites  back  in  the  moun- 
tains was  bare  of  all  the  elevating  and  refining  influences  of  a true  home. 

New  work  was  opened  up  for  the  Society  by  the  missionary  teacher. 
Such  pioneers  were  placed  in  New  Orleans,  La. ; Chattanooga,  Tenn. ; 
Atlanta,  Ga. ; Nashville,  Tenn.;  Salt  Lake  City  and  Ogden,  Utah,  and 
in  other  places.  These  women  studied  the  needs  of  their  respective  fields. 


[16] 


adopted  lines  of  work  best  calculated  to  help  the  people  to  whom  they 
would  minister,  and  furnished  the  necessary  data  to  the  Society  for 
reference  in  enlarging  the  work. 

The  reasons  for  the  overwhelming  success  of  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society  in  launching  its  great  work  can  be  summed  up  in  the 
words  of  its  first  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  R.  S.  Rust:  “The 
usefulness  of  the  Society  and  its  favor  with  the  public  has  resulted  largely 
from  its  power  to  arrange  its  methods  of  work  so  as  to  unite  in  helpful 
co-operation  with  other  agencies  in  the  field.*’ 

It  is  interesting  to  note  just  how  the  men  and  women  looked  upon  the 
effort  to  educate  their  daughters  and  revolutionize  their  homes.  Not  for 
long  did  the  work  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  depend 
for  its  sanction  upon  the  prestige  and  recommendation  of  the  Freedmen’s 
Aid  Society.  As  soon  as  these  people  understood  what  good  gifts  the 
women  brought  in  their  hands  they  coveted  them  as  a miser  does  gold. 
The  freedman  has  not  been  slow  in  recognizing  the  value  of  opportunities. 
Instances  occurred  where  they  made  brave  attempts  to  help  themselves. 
They  organized  themselves  into  auxiliaries.  They  raised  money  to  edu- 
cate neglected  children.  They  cared  for  the  orphans  and  looked  after 
the  burial  of  the  dead.  Sorry  years  of  enforced  lack  of  individual 
responsibility,  however,  made  it  necessary  for  them  to  have  intelligent 
guidance. 

As  for  the  white  girls,  the  chance  to  have  an  education  and  to  improve 
was  the  burden  of  many  a pleading  letter  from  isolated,  lonely  girls  in 
the  country.  Money  did  not  circulate  freely  among  these  destitute  people 
and  seldom,  if  ever,  came  into  the  hands  of  their  children.  The  scholar- 
ships offered  to  those  who  entered  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
schools  were  a wonderful  boon.  Yet  the  girls  who  earned  their  scholar- 
ship through  their  daily  services  very  often  knew  little  about  housework 
when  they  came.  Some  of  them  never  had  seen  a table  or  sat  on  a chair. 
There  was  a twofold  reason  for  granting  student  aid ; not  only  did  it  help 
the  girls  to  get  started  and  hold  a place  in  school  through  industry,  it 
was  also  an  excellent  method  of  helping  the  self-respecting  students  to 
help  themselves.  It  was  not  the  intention  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  to  pauperize  any  one.  And  the  wholesome  pride  and 
ambition  of  these  people  was  often  shown  by  the  pathetic  efforts  they 


[17] 


made  to  meet  the  obligations  of  an  education.  Crowded  Homes  were 
the  rule  and  many  a tearful  girl  was  unwillingly  refused  entrance.  One 
father  was  so  determined  that  his  daughter  should  “get  in”  to  the  Home 
that  he  sent  a double  bed  to  take  the  place  of  a single  one.  Baskets  of 
eggs  were  offered  for  tuition.  One  woman  brought  all  she  had, — a pail 
of  soft  soap.  Another  parent  appeared  at  the  beginning  of  the  term  with 
a cow  which  he  loaned  to  the  Home  during  the  winter.  At  the  end  of 
the  term  he  took  the  daughter  and  cow  back  home.  A very  formal  pay- 
ment to  the  Society  was  a trust  deed  on  a mule.  The  Society  accepted 
the  deed  for  the  sake  of  courtesy  and  to  recognize  self-respect,  but  would 
never  have  foreclosed  on  the  mortgage. 


[18] 


Remodeling  the  Cabin 


Industrial  Homes  and  Schools  for  Negro  Girls 


Name 

Thayer  Home 
Haven  Home 
Mary  Haven  Home 
Boy  Ian 

Emerson  Memorial 

Simpson 

Allen 

Browning 

Kent 

Adeline  Smith 

Elizabeth  L.  Rust 

Peck  School  of  Domestic 
Science  and  Art 

King 

Eliza  Dee 


Location 

South  Atlanta,  Ga. 
Savannah,  Ga. 
Savannah,  Ga. 
Jacksonville,  Fla. 
Ocala,  Fla. 
Orangeburg,  S.  C. 
Asheville,  N.  C. 
Camden,  S.  C. 
Greensboro,  N.  C. 
Little  Rock,  Ark. 

Holly  Springs,  Miss. 
New  Orleans,  La. 

Marshall,  Texas 
Austin,  Texas 


Affiliated  with 
Clark  University 


Claflin  University 

Bennett  College 

Philander  Smith 
College 

Rust  College 

New  Orleans  College 

Wiley  College 
Samuel  Huston  College 


[20] 


II 


REMODELING  THE  CABIN 

THAYER  HOME — During  the  years  1879-1883,  while  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  was  developing  into  an  organ- 
ization, and  women  were  casting  about  for  the  best  means  of  handling 
these  new  educational  problems,  articles  written  by  Dr.  E.  O.  Thayer 
were  appearing  in  the  church  papers  on  the  need  of  “Model  Homes”  as 
a practical  solution  for  training  girls  in  domestic  arts.  Later,  Dr. 
Thayer,  as  President  of  Clark  University,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  enthused  the 
teachers  of  the  school  over  the  possibilities  of  a Model  Home,  and  it  was 
decided  to  solicit  funds  and  build  one  on  the  grounds  at  Clark  University. 
The  first  donor  of  $300  was  to  name  the  building.  A Mr.  Fisk  of 
Boston  claimed  this  privilege,  and  the  first  Model  Home  became  Fisk 
Cottage. 

At  this  point  the  teachers  were  in  a quandary.  The  building  was 
completed,  but  who  was  to  furnish  it  and  where  would  they  get  a super- 
intendent. Mrs.  Rust  was  on  a visit  to  Atlanta  at  that  time.  She  sug- 
gested that  if  they  would  give  the  Home  to  the  Woman’s  Plome  Mis- 
sionary Society,  the  Society  would  furnish  the  building,  secure  a super- 
intendent and  be  responsible  for  her  salary.  This  was  done  and  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  came  into  possession  of  its  first 
property, — a “Model  Home”  on  the  campus  of  a Freedmen’s  Aid 
Society  school.  At  the  first  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers, 
a letter  was  read  from  Miss  Jane  Bancroft,  Dean  of  the  Woman’s 
College,  Northwestern  University,  Evanston,  111.,  in  which  she  offered  to 
be  one  of  forty  to  give  $5.00  each  to  furnish  the  Cottage  at  Clark 
University.  Eighty  dollars  was  pledged  at  once.  In  four  years  the 
family  became  too  large  for  the  building.  It  was  sold  to  the  Freedmen’s 
Aid  Society  for  $500.  Ground  selected  on  another  part  of  the  campus 
was  rented  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  at  a nominal 
charge  of  $ 1 . The  new  building  was  named  Thayer  Home  in  honor  of 
the  man  who  had  taken  such  interest  in  this  work.  It  is  an  interesting 

[2!  ] 


fact  that  when  Thayer  was  remodeled  in  1 898  the  Negro  men  from  the 
Trades  School  of  Clark  University  did  all  the  work  under  the  direction 
of  a white  man.  By  1907  Thayer  Home  was  so  crowded  that  fifty 
were  turned  away.  It  still  remains  in  use  as  an  industrial  Home  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society. 

The  terms  “Model  Home”  and  “Industrial  Home”  were  often  used 
interchangeably,  yet  there  was  a slight  difference.  The  “Model  Home” 
was  supposed  to  accommodate  from  ten  to  sixteen  girls  only.  It  was  con- 
ceived to  be  a pretty  cottage  with  a kitchen,  dining  room,  bed  rooms  and 
parlor,  tastefully  and  economically  decorated  as  a model  for  the  girls.  It 
was  to  be  in  charge  of  a matron,  who  gave  special  instruction  in  cooking, 
sewing  and  duties  of  housekeeping,  in  the  economical  use  of  money  and 
care  of  the  sick.  The  ideal  family  was  to  include  no  more  than  sixteen 
girls,  that  number  being  about  all  that  could  be  satisfactorily  handled  in 
a living  demonstration  of  a Model  Home.  So  many  girls  sought  admit- 
tance that  Homes  were  enlarged  from  time  to  time  to  accommodate  more 
girls,  and  classrooms  were  included  in  the  new  plans,  where  cooking  and 
Bewing  could  be  taught.  These  latter  homes  were,  strictly  speaking,  the 
Industrial  Homes.  “The  maximum  cost,  in  1885,  of  establishing  an 
Industrial  Home,  associated  with  a Freedmen’s  Aid  school,  large  enough 
to  accommodate  sixteen  girls  in  the  family  and  seventy-five  in  classes  was 
less  than  $4,500.  The  insurance,  repairs,  salary  and  traveling  expenses 
of  the  superintendent  of  the  Home  made  the  annual  expenses  of  maintain- 
ing a Home  about  $500.” 

In  the  early  stages  of  its  history  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  confined  itself  to  two  kinds  of  work.  First,  the  house  to  house 
visiting,  during  which  the  missionary  taught  the  essentials  of  good  home- 
making as  best  she  could.  Second,  the  opening  of  day  schools  for  the 
neglected  children  who  swarmed  the  streets.  As  visions  of  the  work  wid- 
ened, the  Society  began  to  place  Model  Homes  and  Industrial  Depart- 
ments near  each  Freedmen’s  Aid  school  so  far  as  practicable.  There 
were  sections  of  the  South,  however,  where  there  were  no  schools  of  any 
kind.  The  missionaries  reported  such  urgent  need  of  schooling  among 
the  Negro  population  that  the  Society  soon  enlarged  upon  the  idea  of  a 
Model  Home  and  built  Industrial  Homes  and  day  schools  where  there 
were  no  other  schools. 


[22] 


HAVEN  Home — In  January,  1 882,  two  women  were  sent  to  Savan- 
nah, Ga.,  to  begin  work  for  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society. 
Three  thousand  Negro  children,  for  whom  there  were  no  accommodations 
in  the  public  schools,  were  roaming  the  streets  of  the  city.  The  missionaries 
promptly  turned  teachers  and  opened  a day  school  in  an  old  dilapidated 
church,  built  by  Bishop  Gilbert  Haven  years  before.  The  flimsy  little 
parsonage  had  been  mortgaged  and  would  soon  have  been  sold.  The 
Bureau  Secretary  rented  it  as  a home  for  the  missionaries,  the  rent  was 
applied  on  the  mortgage  and  the  parsonage  saved.  The  popularity  of  the 
school  was  immediate.  The  older  children  were  taught  in  the  church,  but 
the  little  ones  had  to  be  taken  into  the  Home.  They  crowded  the  kitchen 
classroom,  sitting  under  the  table,  behind  the  stove,  wherever  there  was 
room.  Reports  tell  us  that  “the  Negro  men  and  women  were  completely 
surprised  when  they  heard  that  the  Ten  Commandments  were  from  the 
Bible.’’  They  “thought  only  Massa  and  Missus  said  that’’;  had  they 
known  that  these  laws  were  from  the  Bible  they  would  have  “behaved 
better.’’ 

Thoughts  of  a Model  Home  for  this  new  mission  crowded  the  minds 
of  the  workers.  An  opportunity  came  to  purchase  a.  good  home  at 
$7,000.  It  was  put  in  repair  and  opened  in  March,  1885.  The  new 
“Haven  Home’’  was  soon  filled  to  its  capacity,  the  first  Home  to  be 
established  outside  the  precincts  of  a church  school,  and  a day  school  was 
opened ; chief  among  the  household  puzzles  which  presented  them- 
selves to  the  women  in  arranging  for  the  “conduct  of  the  home’’  was 
the  question  of  maintenance  of  inmates.  No  data  was  to  be  had  on  which 
to  base  their  estimates,  so  they  finally  settled  upon  five  dollars  a month 
for  each  person.  The  mothers’  meeting,  sewing  classes,  day  schools  and 
Sunday-schools  grew  splendidly.  Religious  teaching  did  much  for  the 
people.  The  earthquake  of  August,  1 886,  thoroughly  frightened  them 
and  they  were  even  more  eager  to  become  Christians. 

Haven  Home  soon  established  a mission  five  miles  away  at  a little 
railroad  station  blessed  with  the  picturesque  names  of  “Sandfly’’  and 
“Isle  of  Hope.’’  Special  mention  should  be  made  of  this  mission,  as  it 
was  at  first  financed  by  the  teachers  and  pupils  of  Haven  Home  with  the 
help  of  friends.  They  opened  Speedwell  Mission  in  the  small  log  house 
of  a Negro.  People  sat  on  boxes  and  kegs,  and  children  on  the  dirt 


[23] 


floor.  Then  the  missionaries  and  students  built  a pretty  white  school 
house  with  trim,  green  blinds.  There,  even  on  Sunday  afternoons,  the 
house  was  full  of  men,  women  and  children.  They  could  not  read,  and 
the  missionaries  opened  the  school  Sunday  afternoon  that  they  might  learn 
to  read  the  Bible.  By  1891  it  was  quite  evident  that  Speedwell  should 
be  a regular  station,  and  the  Home  when  built  was  called  “Mary 
Haven  Home.” 

Years  of  increasing  growth,  additions  to  the  Home,  enlargement  of  the 
teaching  staff  preceded  a period  of  disasters  for  Haven  Home.  Five 
hundred  girls  and  four  thousand  day  school  pupils  passed  through  the 
Home,  then  “fire,  earthquake,  storm  and  cyclone  came  as  emissaries  of 
Satan  to  destroy  it,  but  it  has  stood  as  a monument  of  God’s  purpose  to 
redeem.’’  In  1912  it  was  sold  to  the  Board  of  Public  Education  of 
Savannah.  The  family  was  removed  to  the  Mary  Haven  Home  at 
Speedwell  until  a new  building  could  be  erected  on  a most  desirable  lot 
already  in  the  possession  of  the  Society.  The  new  Haven  Home  was 
reopened  in  1917  with  fifty-one  students.  At  present  the  Speedwell 
property  is  rented  by  the  Board  of  Education  and  used  as  a school  house. 

The  history  of  the  Industrial  Homes  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  is  an  astonishing  array  of  figures.  We  are  amazed  as  we 
read  of  the  number  of  girls  who  from  therej  received  help,  of  the  number 
who  passed  through  the  day  schools,  of  the  amounts  of  money  that  came 
in  from  all  over  the  country  to  build  new  Homes, — of  heroic  rallying  of 
forces  when  disaster  of  fire  or  flood  would  sweep  whole  plants  away. 
Always  the  building  of  better  Homes,  always  students  crowding  the 
schools  to  the  doors,  a continual  stream  of  supplies  from  East,  North 
and  West.  Barrels  of  dishes,  boxes  of  bedding  for  the  Homes,  yards 
upon  yards  of  material  for  sewing  classes  were  poured  into  the  open 
doors  of  these  wonderful  centers  of  Christian  light. 

This  meant  industry,  self-denial,  untiring  energy,  unfailing  response 
from  the  auxiliaries.  The  bureau  secretaries  recognized  this  as  year  after 
year  they  took  their  reports  to  the  annual  meetings,  and  when  the  reports 
seemed  to  have  a sameness  to  them,  the  good  women  would  remind  their 
colleagues  that  there  was  much  to  be  read  between  the  lines.  The  pecu- 
liar charm  of  their  story  lies  in  the  activities  of  the  respective  Homes ; in 
their  living  up  to  the  distinctive  purpose  for  which  they  were  founded; 


[24] 


ill  new  departures  which  supplied  the  Society  with  results  as  valuable  as 
special  research  would  yield. 

Boylan  Industrial  Home  and  Training  School — For  the 
origin  of  Boylan  Industrial  Home,  records  lead  us  back  to  the  work 
of  a missionary  in  1 885  who  divided  her  time  between  teaching  sewing 
classes  at  Cookman  Institute,  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  and  city  missionary 
work.  That  she  had  a rare  gift  in  winning  her  way  is  evidenced  by 
her  success  in  opening  sewing  classes,  workers’  clubs  and  temperance 
societies  in  four  suburbs,  Simpson  Chapel,  Oakland,  Hansontown  and 
Wrightsville.  Very  soon  the  Society  recognized  the  need  of  a Home. 
A suitable  house  was  rented  and  three  Conferences, — Florida,  New 
Hampshire  and  Vermont, — set  to  work  to  raise  money  for  bedding, 
carpets  and  other  furnishings.  Mrs.  Ann  Boylan  De  Groot  of  Newark, 
N.  J.,  became  interested  and  gave  $1,000  toward  the  purchase  of  the 
property  which  should  bear  her  family  name,  saying  that  during  dark 
days  of  slavery  two  large  plantations  had  borne  this  name.  She  now 
desired  to  give  it  to  a Home  that  would  have  for  its  object  the  uplifting 
and  salvation  of  down-trodden  humanity.  Neighbors  next  to  Boylan 
Home  did  not  feel  so  kindly  toward  the  education  of  the  Negro.  They 
erected  a high  board  fence  between  the  properties.  This  fence  proved  a 
protection,  later,  during  the  plague  of  1888,  by  keeping  the  plague- 
ridden  winds  away  from  the  Home.  Though  the  scourge  claimed  vic- 
tims all  around  them,  including  the  unfriendly  neighbors,  no  one  in  the 
Home  was  sick.  Some  time  afterwards  the  property  on  the  other  side  of 
the  fence  was  bought  for  Boylan  Home. 

The  next  few  years  chronicle  the  beginning  of  three  activities  at 
Boylan  Home  and  school,  which  later  gained  distinction  for  the  institu- 
tion. At  the  time  when  enlargements  were  asked  for  the  Home,  a new 
feature  of  the  work  was  reported.  A class  of  Negro  women  were  taking 
special  training  for  missionary  work  among  their  own  people.  The  mis- 
sionary spirit  expressed  itself  among  the  girls  of  the  Home  in  another  way. 
They  adopted  and  supported  a nine-year-old  child  of  India  named  Nati 
Nomi.  In  1902  a Chinese  mission  was  reported  at  the  annual  meeting, 
with  eighteen  children  in  Sunday-school.  The  Chinese  held  meetings  in 
the  recitation  rooms  of  the  school  because  there  was  no  other  place  in 
the  city  for  them.  People  called  the  missionary  who  had  charge  of  this 


[25] 


branch  of  work,  “The  Chinese  Bible  Woman.”  This  missionary  spirit 
took  most  effective  form  in  Boylan  Home  Settlement.  The  students  at 
the  Home  assisted  teachers  there  and  so  were  taught  through  practical 
work  the  great  lesson  of  carrying  healing  and  light  and  faith  to  the  sin- 
sick  world.  This  settlement  commenced  in  Faith  Cottage,  at  West  Jack- 
sonville, three  miles  from  Boylan  Home.  It  was  opened  in  a small  cabin 
and  an  old  dilapidated  church  near  by.  The  girls  began  by  house  to 
house  visitation.  Soon  they  had  a day  school,  night  school,  Sunday- 
school,  adult  Bible  class,  mothers’  meetings  and  a sewing  branch.  That 
this  settlement  was  very  dear  not  only  to  the  hearts  of  the  Boylan  family 
but  to  the  hearts  of  all  the  workers  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  offerings  from 
twenty-one  different  states  came  to  Ingraham  Faith  Cottage.  The  fairest 
estimate  of  the  school,  however,  was  given  by  one  of  the  students  when 
leaving,  who  said,  “I’ve  learned  more  sense  here  than  in  all  my  life  before 
and  I want  to  come  back.” 

In  1905  turpentine  factories  were  planted  in  West  Jacksonville,  very 
near  the  Boylan  Home  Settlement.  For  a time  these  changes  made  day 
and  night  classes  necessary,  as  well  as  reading  rooms  which  could  become 
a social  center.  But  by  1910  the  people  had  moved  away  and  the 
settlement  was  closed  after  seven  years  of  splendid  work. 

Brewster  Hospital  and  Nurse  Training  School  for 
NEGROES — The  next  vision  of  the  family  of  Boylan  Home  was  a class  in 
nurse  training.  In  two  years  this  class  was  a reality.  Great  interest  cen- 
tered around  it.  It  had  become  a nurse  training  department  and  a medical 
mission  for  Negro  people.  When  Jacksonville  was  visited  by  a great 
and  terrible  fire,  the  Home  was  saved,  and  it  became  a house  of  refuge 
during  those  awful  days.  The  nurse  group  had  an  opportunity  for  great 
service  and  won  praise  and  gratitude  through  their  splendid  response. 

In  1 902  the  class  in  nurse  training  had  become  Brewster  Memorial 
Nurse  Training  Department.  The  design  of  this  department  was  not 
only  to  train  nurses  but  also  to  relieve  suffering  among  Negro  people.  In 
another  year  it  had  become  officially  Brewster  Training  School  for 
Nurses,  in  fact  the  one  hospital  for  Negroes.  De  Witt  and  Mary  G. 
Hill  memorial  rooms  were  in  the  building.  A physician  interested  in 
the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  furnished  a room  for  patients. 
Not  only  did  the  department  care  for  the  patients  received  in  the  training 


[26] 


school,  but  it  also  did  district  nursing  as  well.  In  six;  years  Brewster 
Memorial  Nurse  Training  Department  became  Brewster  Hospital  and 
Training  School,  “a  benediction  to  afflicted  Negroes  in  all  that  part  of 
the  country.”  Recommendations  have  now  been  made  that  a new  build- 
ing be  erected  for  Brewster  Hospital  and  a conditional  building  fund  of 
$50,000  has  been  appropriated.  A third  fortunate  move  was  the  inaugu- 
ration of  the  custom  to  furnish  girls  who  graduated  with  a teacher’s 
sample  outfit  so  that  they  could  teach  others. 

Boylan  Home  offered  a musical  training  to  its  students,  who  were 
beautiful  singers.  The  sixteenth  anniversary  of  the  Home  was  celebrated 
by  singing  at  a missionary  concert.  Fifty-five  girls  took  part,  fifty  in 
costume.  At  the  close  of  the  concert,  a workingman  said,  “I  tell  you 
people  never  got  so  fixed  up  in  missions  before.” 

Since  its  founding  in  1 883,  Boylan  Home  had  occupied  a whole 
square  near  the  heart  of  the  city.  The  location  was  so  desirable  that  the 
property  had  increased  in  value,  though  the  buildings  were  poor,  having 
been  erected  originally  for  dwelling  houses.  Fire  at  Brewster  had 
destroyed  one  wing  of  the  building.  It  seemed  an  opportune  time  to 
make  radical  changes  which  would  add  to  the  efficiency  of  the  institution. 
Lots  were  purchased  in  another  part  of  the  town  in  1907,  and  three 
years  later  enough  money  was  realized  from  the  old  property  to  build  a 
fine  new  building,  with  ample  school  room  and  accommodations  for  one 
hundred  girls.  Sixty-six  girls  moved  in  at  once.  In  1914  the  great  joy 
of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  in  possessing  such  a “credi- 
table plant”  was  turned  to  dismay  by  the  passage  of  a law  in  Florida 
that  no  white  teacher  could  teach  in  colored  schools.  For  a time  it 
seemed  as  if  the  beautiful  new  building  and  the  precious  work  had 
received  a mortal  blow.  But  only  for  a time.  It  was  the  pride  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  that  many  Negro  girls  had  gone  out 
from  its  schools  trained  to  teach  and  equipped  with  teachers’  outfits.  And 
Boylan  Home  opened  with  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  students  in  the 
Home  and  a group  of  the  best  Negro  teachers  in  the  city.  Soon  it  was 
crowded.  Pupils  came  from  all  over  Florida  to  “Boiling  Home,”  as 
some  one  said.  One  woman,  a cook,  brought  five  girls  not  her  own.  The 
latest  reports  from  Boylan  state  that  ninety-eight  girls  are  in  the  Home. 
On  account  of  the  exodus  of  Negroes  from  the  South  in  the  winter  of 


[27] 


1917  some  of  the  best  girls  left.  As  the  result  of  a test  case 
white  teachers  are  now  allowed  at  Boylan  Home,  as  it  is  not  supported 
by  public  funds. 

Emerson  Memorial  Home — For  some  years  Boylan  Home,  at 
Jacksonville,  was  the  only  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  Home  in 
Florida.  Another  was  needed  and  should  be  located  nearer  the  centre  of 
the  state,  since  the  cost  of  traveling  from  one  end  of  the  state  to  the  other 
was  very  great.  Belleview,  a town  in  middle  Florida,  one  hundred  miles 
south  of  Jacksonville,  made  generous  offers  of  land,  labor  and  a sum  of 
money  to  the  Society  toward  the  founding  of  a Home  there.  A house  was 
rented  there  in  1 890,  and  a Home  established,  which  took  in  ten  girls. 
This  was  to  be  Emerson  Memorial  Home  in  honor  of  Mrs.  Cecilia  Emer- 
son, the  heroic  woman  who  “stood  by”  the  family  at  Boylan  Home  during 
the  long  and  trying  yellow  fever  epidemic.  During  the  year  it  became 
evident  that  Belleview  was  not  a satisfactory  location  for  the  school,  and 
Ocala  was  chosen  for  the  site  of  the  new  Home  and  school  soon  to 
be  built. 

Ocala  was  twelve  miles  from  Belleview,  a central  point  on  a railroad 
line,  with  a large  colored  population.  In  1891  two  missionary  teachers 
opened  work  in  an  old  church  building.  One  side  was  curtained  off  with 
sheets  and  six  girls  slept  there.  The  other  space  was  used  for  kitchen 
and  schoolroom  combined.  The  girls  were  very  shy  and  like  wild  pigeons. 
One  had  never  before  been  in  the  presence  of  a white  person  for  a half 
hour.  One  hundred  and  twenty-five  pupils  entered  the  day  school. 

In  1902  Emerson  Memorial  Home  was  built,  a plain,  substantial 
building,  much  prized  by  the  people  at  Ocala.  Through  a period  of  ten 
years  this  Home  never  presented  a deficit  and  always  had  a balance, 
though  small,  in  the  treasury.  It  was  a great  factor  in  the  development 
of  the  colored  people,  of  whom  it  was  said,  “They  are  educating  their 
children,  buying  homes,  supporting  churches  and  accumulating  property.” 

When  the  Home  was  established,  Ocala  expected  to  become  the 
capital  of  Florida.  Street  railways  were  built  and  the  boundaries  of  the 
town  were  enlarged.  But  these  great  expectations  came  to  naught.  The 
arrested  development  left  Emerson  Home  over  a mile  from  the  centre  of 
the  town,  a long  walk  over  a sandy  road.  No  modern  improvements 


[28] 


were  possible  in  that  isolated  place,  but  for  a score  of  years  Emerson 
Home  inspired  and  equipped  hundreds  of  girls  for  wholesome  Christian 
living.  After  the  splendidly  equipped  new  Boylan  Home  was  ready,  the 
Society  thought  it  wise  to  move  Emerson  Home  from  Ocala  to  some 
place  farther  South.  A tract  of  land  at  Tampa,  Florida,  was  offered, 
but  the  Board  of  Trustees  decided,  in  view  of  general  financial  conditions, 
to  close  Emerson  Home  with  a view  to  opening  it  farther  South  later  on. 

Simpson  Memorial  Home — Differentiations  in  the  type  of  work  in 
the  Model  Homes  of  the  Society  had  taken  place  by  1 886.  Three  possi- 
bilities lay  before  each  Home  at  the  time  of  its  occupation.  First,  that  of 
evangelistic  work.  The  department  of  missionary  work  was  systematized 
and  carried  on  in  conjunction  with  a church  or  a school.  This  had  empha- 
sis in  every  Home.  Second,  that  of  the  day  school,  which  could  be 
in  localities  only  where  the  church  had  no  efficient  school.  Third,  that  of 
a department  of  domestic  economy.  This  third  possibility  was  often  asso- 
ciated with  other  schools  of  the  church,  with  funds  provided  by  them.  In 
this  way  girls  who  attended  school  but  did  not  live  at  the  Home  took  the 
course  in  domestic  economy  at  the  Home  and  received  credit  as  in  other 
studies.  Someone  has  said  they  were  “trained  for  usefulness”  while  pur- 
suing their  studies.  Although  Simpson  Memorial  Home  at  Orangeburg, 
S.  C.,  is  a thing  of  the  past,  its  history  is  most  valuable  to  the  Society 
as  an  example  of  a domestic  economy  department  affiliated  with  a 
University. 

Simpson  Home  was  built  at  Claflin  University,  by  the  women  of 
Philadelphia  Conference  as  a memorial  to  Bishop  Matthew  Simpson.  It 
was  in  all  respects  a Model  Home,  an  Industrial  Home,  and  soon  had  a 
department  of  domestic  science  associated  with  the  university.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  as  far  back  as  1 888  the  students  at  Simpson 
Home  were  instructed  in  the  canning  of  fruits  and  vegetables  along  with 
other  lessons  in  domestic  arts. 

Large  classes  of  girls  from  the  University  were  taught  various  grades 
of  sewing  at  the  Home.  Early  the  Superintendent  and  managers  of  the 
Home  wrestled  with  a series  of  difficulties  which  had  to  be  faced  by 
every  Home  so  affiliated  with  a Freedmen’s  Aid  school.  It  was  a matter 
of  delicate  adjustment  to  secure  for  the  girls  in  the  Home  requisite  time 
for  training  in  the  domestic  department.  A wild  rush  to  wash  dishes. 


[29] 


make  beds  and  put  the  house  in  order  before  the  school  day  began  was 
hardly  conducive  to  painstaking,  accurate  training  in  home  science.  One 
can  easily  understand  the  strain  on  the  girls  with  a schedule  such  as  many 
attempted, — the  day  in  the  schoolroom  with  recitation  work,  special 
attention  to  normal  training  in  evening  classes  (if  they  were  planning  to 
teach),  and  training  in  domestic  economy. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  Claflin  was  rapidly  advancing  in  its  standing 
as  a university,  that  new  buildings  were  going  up,  that  the  work  of  the 
institution  was  being  placed  on  a high  grade,  that  the  future  outlined  for 
it  was  very  ambitious,  the  Society  in  1 902  decided  to  make  radical 
changes  at  Simpson  Home  in  order  to  keep  abreast  of  the  advancement 
at  Claflin.  The  faculty  of  Claflin  had  been  anxious  for  some  time  that 
all  the  girls  attending  the  university  should  live  there.  As  the  Model 
Home  was  no  longer  a necessity,  partitions  were  knocked  out  and  three 
fine,  large  classrooms  were  finished  off  and  used  for  graded  sewing 
classes,  with  three  hundred  pupils  enrolled.  The  Industrial  Hall  was 
equipped  for  cooking  classes  and  a lecture  room, — and  Simpson  Memo- 
rial became  a well-organized  department  at  Claflin  University  under  the 
care  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  It  was  the  desire  of 
the  Society  that  the  Home  should  not  supplement  the  work  of  the  Freed- 
men’s  Aid  Society  by  providing  separate  boarding  facilities  for  girls  in 
their  schools,  but  be  a department  of  the!  university  having  specific  work 
in  the  line  of  domestic  economy.  They  wanted  the  department  to  hold 
the  same  relation  to  Claflin  as  the  theological,  medical,  agricultural  and 
manual  labor  schools.  The  courses  of  study  offered  were  as  follows : 

Serving  Course:  Drafting,  elementary  sewing  and  millinery. 

Cooking  Course:  Economic  study  of  foods,  housekeeping  emergen- 
cies, home  nursing  and  invalid  cookery. 

Laundry  Course:  It  was  voted  to  do  away  with  scholarships  and  to 
ask  for  pledges  of  ten  dollars  each  to  provide  material  and  appliances  for 
industrial  training  for  each  girl.  The  results  of  this  reconstruction  were 
considered  a great  advance  in  industrial  education,  and  everybody  was 
happy.  Two  hundred  and  fifteen  pupils  enrolled  in  1904.  The  Presi- 
dent of  the  college  said  it  was  “a  most  desirable  departure  from  old  lines, 
being  more  thorough,  more  scientific,  and  taking  in  more  girls.” 


[30] 


In  1907  the  following  announcement  was  made  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Society:  “Owing  to  continual  difficulties  in  administration  of 
work  at  Simpson  Home  and  a growing  conviction  that  the  work  should 
be  under  the  control  of  the  faculty  of  Claflin  University,  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  instructed  the  Secre- 
tary to  close  the  Home  and  dispose  of  the  property  to  the  best  advantage.” 
The  site  was  leased  ground  and  reverted  to  the  University.  The  Society’s 
building  was  disposed  of  for  $600.  The  furnishings  and  equipment 
were  divided  between  Browning  and  Allen  Homes.  Simpson  Memorial 
Home  became  a business  college,  and  the  domestic  science  building  a 
kitchen. 

Allen  Industrial  Home — To  Rev.  L.  M.  Pease  and  wife, 
founders  of  the  famous  Five  Points  Mission,  New  York  City,  is  given 
the  credit  for  the  founding  of  Allen  Home  at  Asheville,  N.  C.  In 
1887  they  offered  to  the  Society  a property  in  that  town  with  a sub- 
stantial school  building  and  small  house,  on  condition  that  a graded 
industrial  school  for  colored  children  should  be  conducted  in  which 
common  English  branches  of  study  as  well  as  religious  and  industrial 
training  should  be  given.  It  practically  meant  that  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society  should  sustain  a grammar  school  as  well  as  an 
industrial  school.  The  property  was  finally  accepted.  There  were  sev- 
eral reasons  why  Asheville  was  an  interesting  location  for  a Home 
missionary  school.  It  was  the  “Saratoga  of  the  South.”  Many  visi- 
tors from  all  over  the  world  came  to  this  health-giving  resort.  It  was 
an  ideal  place  to  demonstrate  the  work  of  the  Society  by  supporting  a 
thoroughly  equipped,  up-to-date!  Home  and  school.  The  great  numbers 
of  colored  people  who  were  attracted  to  Asheville  by  opportunities  for 
employment  were  intelligent  and  ambitious,  offering  the  best  type  of  mate- 
rial to  work  with.  By  the  end  of  the  first  term  two  hundred  and  forty- 
three  had  enrolled  in  the  school.  The  ages  ranged  from  four  to  forty-five 
years.  There  were  among  them  five  former  teachers  and  preachers,  and 
twelve  married  women,  two  of  them  grandmothers.  Some  pupils  walked 
great  distances,  even  over  mountains,  to  get  to  the  school. 

The  Helen  Hunt  Band  of  Delaware,  Ohio,  sent  charts,  a manikin, 
geographical  maps,  and  a globe.  It  took  some  time  to  classify  and 
grade  a course  of  study  to  fit  such  a variety  of  ages,  but  there  soon 


evolved  an  orderly,  disciplined  school.  To  the  special  line  of  training 
called  for,  a course  in  plain  sewing  was  added.  To  meet  expenses  and 
to  develop  in  self-help,  the  older  girls  in  the  classes  paid  ten  cents  to 
enter  the  class;  the  younger  girls  paid  five  cents.  After  six  years  it  was 
very  evident  that  the  work  at  Asheville  should  be  enlarged.  Many  tour- 
ists who  visited  the  Home  received  their  first  and  possibly  their  only 
impression  of  the  work  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  from  what  they  saw  there.  So  it 
seemed  strategically  necessary  to  put  that  work  on  a broad,  permanent 
basis.  As  the  Secretary  said,  “We  must  acquit  ourselves  as  though  we 
believed  that  this  was  now  our  day  for  deep  foundations.’’ 

In  1893  the  property  at  Asheville  was  looked  over  with  the  thought 
of  making  statesmanlike  changes.  It  was  reported  to  be  valuable  and 
well  located,  consisting  of  two  frame  houses,  a small  cottage,  and  a school 
building  containing  a chapel,  a schoolroom  and  rooms  for  sewing  and 
kindergarten  classes.  A well-appointed,  graded  public  school  had  been 
provided  in  the  town.  In  the  judgment  of  the  Committee,  it  was  felt 
that  a “Christian  institution  for  girls,  combining  industrial  and  literary 
advantages  that  would  fit  young  women  for  practical  home  duties,  was 
needed.’’  The  plan  included  a!  library  and  industrial  department,  teach- 
ing in  sewing,  cooking  and  millinery  for  advanced  classes,  kindergarten 
and  kitchen-garden  classes  for  young  girls.  The  school  was  to  be  known 
as  a boarding-school  for  young  ladies.  During  the  year  $1,000  was 
given  by  Mrs.  Marriage  Allen  of  London,  England,  a tourist  who 
already,  while  at  an  Asheville  sanitarium,  had  made  numerous  gifts  to 
the  work.  Other  gifts  and  an  appropriation  of  $5,000  rendered  the 
new  Allen  Industrial  Home  a certainty. 

As  the  workers  and  their  charges  entered  the  new  Home  they  could 
look  back  upon  eight  years  of  splendid  work.  During  that  time  1 ,400 
pupils  had  been  sent  out  from  the  school  and  could  be  found  in  respon- 
sible places  in  stores,  offices,  hotels  and  markets.  The  dedication  serv- 
ices were  held  February  9,  1897.  During  the  years  following,  Allen 
Home  seems  to  have  had  unusual  results  in  developing  ambition  among 
the  girls,  for  many  of  them  went  out  into  normal  schools  and  other 
higher  schools  for  advanced  training. 

Another  step  in  development  at  Asheville  was  a fine,  large  building 


[32] 


Thayer  Home,  South  Atlanta,  Ga.,  1889.  The  First  Industrial  Home 
built  by  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 


Eliza  Dee  Industrial  Home,  Austin,  Texas,  1917 


\ 


known  as  the  Lurandus  Beach  Industrial  School,  built  in  1905,  while 
across  the  street  from  the  property  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  the  Negro  Methodist  church,  Berry  Temple,  was  built. 

The  new  school  building  was  soon  equipped  for  a domestic  science 
department  including  a model  kitchen  and  dining-room.  A glance  at 
the  alumnae  record  of  Allen  Industrial  School  is  a strong  justification 
for  educating  the  Negro.  Here  we  find  names  of  teachers,  bookkeepers, 
kindergartners,  dressmakers,  laundresses,  trained  nurses,  wives  of  minis- 
ters and  business  men,  while  in  1910  two  graduates  of  the  school  were 
principals  and  five  were  teachers  in  the  Negro  schools  of  Asheville.  At 
the  close  of  each  school  year  there  was  a demand  for  every  girl,  either 
as  a teacher  for  rural  schools  or  in  private  homes.  One  recent  graduate 
was  offered  $75  a month  to  teach  sanitation  in  the  schools  of  an  adjoining 
county. 

Civic  consciousness  grew  steadily  during  the  years,  as  over  three  hun- 
dred and  ninety-five  girls  passed  through  the  Home  and  over  six  thousand 
through  the  school.  No  greater  evidence  of  industry  and  patriotism 
among  colored  girls  and  women  can  be  seen  than  in  the  work  and  sewing 
classes  of  Allen  Industrial  Home  and  School  while  sewing  for  the  Red 
Cross  during  the  long  winter  of  the  war. 

Browning  Industrial  Home — Browning  Industrial  Home  traces 
its  origin  to  the  work  of  Mrs.  James  Mather  among  the  children  of  the 
recently  emancipated  slaves  at  Camden,  S.  C.  Previous  to  her  marriage, 
Mrs.  Mather  taught  the  children  and  financed  the  school  herself,  even  to 
the  purchase  of  the  property  required.  She  married  a clergyman.  Rev. 
James  Mather,  of  the  New  England  Southern  Conference.  About  1884 
she  interested  the  women  of  that  Conference  in  the  school  of  her  girlhood 
days,  and  they  raised  money  for  an  Industrial  Home  at  Camden.  The 
Home,  ready  by  1 889,  was  named  for  Mrs.  Mather’s  deceased  friend, 
Mrs.  F.  O.  Browning,  who  had  left  a bequest  to  the  work.  Out  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-nine  pupils  enrolled,  many  of  the  girls  had  never  pos- 
sessed such  treasures  as  pins,  thimbles,  thread,  scissors,  ribbons,  buttons, 
needle-books  and  pin-cushions.  One  boy  walked  twelve  miles  daily  to 
attend  the  school. 

A special  feature  of  this  institution  was  the  plantation  work.  The 


[33] 


missionaries  made  daily  trips  with  horse  and  wagon  to  the  great  planta- 
tions in  the  vicinity  or  Camden.  They  established  schools,  taught  sewing 
and  held  evangelistic  services.  Two  plantation  schools  at  Wesley  and 
Ephesus,  supported  by  the  New  England  and  New  England  Southern 
Conferences,  fairly  transformed  these  communities  of  colored  people. 
The  stations  became  the  centre  of  attraction  for  a radius  of  six  miles 
and  reached  over  2,000  people  with  their  uplifting  influence. 

In  1 890  the  property  of  Mrs.  Mather  at  Camden  was  purchased  for 
the  school.  Ten  years  later  Mrs.  Mather  asked  that  the  school  be  called 
Mather  Academy  in  memory  of  her  husband,  and  invested  $10,000  to 
be  used  for  the  Academy  when  principal  and  interest  should  become 
$25,000.  Repeated  gifts  from  Mrs.  Mather  and  her  family  culminated 
in  the  erection  of  a beautiful  chapel.  Gifts  from  individuals  and  Rock 
River  Conference  added  greatly  to  the  beauty  and  efficiency  of  the  school. 
The  latest  addition  to  Browning,  ‘‘Hubbard  Hall,”  a large  and  finely 
equipped  school  building,  is  the  gift  of  an  anonymous  friend,  and  one 
of  the  largest  gifts  ever  made  in  connection  with  the  Homes  of  the 
Society. 

The  general  tone  of  the  school — co-educational  with  three  hundred 
pupils  on  the  campus — is  of  the  highest  order.  In  all  the  years  there 
has  never  been  cause  for  severe  discipline  among  those  colored  boys  and 
girls. 

In  1901  Mrs.  Mather  left  half  of  her  estate  to  Browning  Home  to 
be  available  when  it  should  amount  to  $10,000.  This  “fine  property, 
four  good  buildings  on  a large  campus, — Browning  Home,  Mather 
Academy,  Lucy  Babcock  Chapel  and  Hubbard  Hall, — constitutes  the 
most  complete  plant  with  the  fullest  endowment  of  any  in  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society.” 

Kent  Home — Kent  Home,  at  Greensboro,  N.  C.,  adjacent  to 
Bennett  College,  was  established  through  the  missionary  energy  of  Troy 
Conference  women.  They  began  the  initial  work  in  1 884,  and  by  1 886 
a fine  building  of  seventeen  rooms  was  ready,  free  of  debt,  and  named 
Kent  Industrial  Home  in  honor  of  the  deceased  husband  of  Mrs.  Anna 
Kent  of  Gloversville,  N.  Y.  Every  room  was  named  for  a generous 
friend.  The  Conference  Society  also  paid  for  furnishings,  bedding,  linen 
and  dishes. 


[34] 


The  management  of  Kent  Home  was  in  the  hands  of  very  capable 
workers,  and  they  were  successful  in  molding  the  most  unpromising  char- 
acteristics into  a helpful,  attractive  personality.  The  girls  seemed  to  have 
a genius  for  cooking,  learning  it  as  easily  as  singing.  But  sewing  was  a 
bit  harder.  A most  interesting  incident  in  connection  with  Kent  Home 
is  recorded  in  1888.  The  Negroes  of  the  town  petitioned  Troy  Con- 
ference to  send  a competent  dressmaker  to  Kent  Home  to  teach  Negro 
girls  a trade  and  also  to  do  dressmaking  for  the  Negroes  of  the  city. 
They  stated  as  their  grievance  that  the  white  seamstresses  of  the  city  would 
not  teach  the  Negro  girls  the  trade,  and  that  they  charged  them  impossible 
prices.  They  were  quite  sure  that  the  money  from  the  town’s  people  and 
the  tuition  would  pay  the  extra  salary.  The  request  for  a sewing  teacher 
and  seamstress  was  granted,  and  in  due  time  they  appeared,  but  so  few 
apprentices  applied  that  the  plan  was  finally  abandoned. 

Kent  Home  was  destroyed  by  fire,  that  arch  enemy  of  the  Society’s 
Homes.  A new  building  was  authorized  in  1911,  and  when  built  con- 
tained a library  room  with  four  hundred  volumes  as  a starting  point  and 
a gift  of  $200  for  more  books.  The  library  more  than  fulfilled  the 
expectations  of  friends.  It  was  kept  with  the  same  rules  as  a well- 
regulated  library,  and  supplied  books  to  many  people  outside  the  Home. 

Save  for  the  fire  and  one  visitation  of  a contagious  disease,  Kent 
Home  has  been  free  from  all  difficulties  or  hindrances,  and  has  had  the 
steady,  serene,  hopeful  development  that  accompanies  fine,  true  devotion 
and  loyal  effort  on  the  part  of  the  entire  family  in  an  Industrial  Home. 

New  Jersey  Industrial  Home — A forerunner  of  New  Jersey 
Industrial  Home  was  a school  taught  by  the  widow  of  Mr.  H.  Stearns, 
who  carried  on  the  work  of  her  husband.  After  his  death  in  1 869,  Mrs. 
Stearns  set  up  her  little  school  at  Morristown,  Tenn.  Twelve  years  later 
the  Freedmen’s  Aid  Society  began  its  work  at  Morristown,  and  Mrs. 
Stearns’  school  was  merged  with  it. 

In  1887  the  President  of  Morristown  Seminary  asked  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  to  send  an  industrial  teacher  for  the  girls  of 
the  school.  The  teacher  opened  sewing  classes  in  the  dining  hall  of  the 
Seminary  with  one  hundred  girls  in  the  department.  This  Department 
was  adopted  as  a protege  by  the  New  Jersey  and  Newark  Conferences. 
They  sent  sewing  requisites,  such  as  scissors,  charts,  sewing  machines, 


[35] 


chairs,  tables  and  stove,  with  the  plan  that  these  appliances  should  ulti- 
mately be  placed  in  the  Industrial  Home  for  which  they  were  collecting 
money. 

The  students  came  not  only  from  the  town  and  vicinity,  but  also  from 
parts  of  Upper  Tennessee,  Southern  Kentucky,  West  Virginia,  the  west- 
ern part  of  North  Carolina  and  Alabama.  For  many  years  they  were 
entirely  beneficiaries,  being  extremely  poor,  but  in  1 904  a growing  ability 
on  the  part  of  the  students  to  pay  their  expenses  was  in  evidence  and  soon 
there  were  few  who  did  not  pay  at  least  a part  of  their  own  way.  They 
were  very  bright,  capable  girls,  who  excelled  in  their  abilities.  One  girl 
wrote  a hymn  that  received  a prize  awarded  by  the  Stewart  Missionary 
Foundation  of  Georgia  in  1 898.  Before  the  Home  was  provided  for, 
the  Freedmen’s  Aid  Society  purchased  a new  site  for  Morristown  Semi- 
nary, and  at  that  time  gave  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  an 
acre  or  more  of  ground  on  which  to  build  an  Industrial  Home.  The 
Home  was  completed  in  1892,  enlarged  four  years  later,  and  has  been 
remodeled  and  re-equipped  from  time  to  time  since.  In  1909  a new 
library  was  welcomed.  Thirty-two  girls  lived  in  the  New  Jersey  Indus- 
trial Home  in  1918.  The  time  had  come  to  accept  the  offer  made  by  the 
Morristown  Seminary  to  use  a large  room  in  the  Freedmen’s  Aid  Society 
school  for  the  Industrial  Department.  The  additional  room  thus  afforded 
in  the  Home  was  a great  help.  After  the  survey  of  1919  extensive 
repairs  enlarged  the  building  and  made  better  work  possible. 

As  far  back  as  1 886,  in  Louisiana,  Mississippi  and  Arkansas,  known 
as  the  West  Southern  states,  were  the  Freedmen’s  Aid  colleges, — New 
Orleans,  Rust  and  Philander  Smith.  The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society,  co-operating  with  these  colleges,  has  exerted  a powerful  influ- 
ence through  its  Homes, — Peck,  at  New  Orleans;  Elizabeth  L.  Rust, 
at  Holly  Springs,  Miss. ; and  Adeline  Smith,  at  Little  Rock,  Ark.  The 
districts  of  the  presiding  elders  of  the  church  were  very  large.  In  all 
that  great  country  there  was  only  one  city  of  over  13,000,  and  few 
towns  had  more  than  2,000  to  4,000  inhabitants,  yet  within  these  states 
were  2,000,000  Negroes.  And  out  of  900,000,  seventy-seven  per  cent, 
over  ten  years  were  illiterate.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  that  the  work 
should  be  planned  for  rural  districts.  The  people  were  widely  scattered, 
many  of  them  being  plantation  workmen  who  lived  in  one-room  cabins. 


[36] 


It  was  readily  seen  that  the  sending  of  a missionary  to  this  section  would 
not  meet  the  case.  She  could  not  stay  long  enough.  And  if  she  could 
stay,  there  were  inconveniences  and  serious  obstacles  to  make  the  teaching 
impossible.  The  Industrial  Home  by  the  side  of  the  college  was  the 
one  solution.  Even  though  the  girls  attended  these  colleges,  without  the 
Model  Home  they  would  return  to  their  old  life  unequipped  for  its 
struggle.  They  would  have  neither  the  desire  nor  the  skill  to  change  the 
old  modes  of  living.  Both  boys  and  girls  came  from  cabins  where  there 
were  few,  if  any,  furnishings.  The  industrial  teaching  at  the  Homes, 
simple  and  elementary  though  it  was,  meant  a sweeping  change  in  the 
homes  of  the  students.  The  girl  learned  to  cook  food,  to  set  the  table, 
to  make  garments  and  keep  the  house,  while  the  boy  learned  the  use 
of  tools  and  how  to  make  a table,  or  seats,  and  to  build  an  addition  to 
his  cabin. 

Adeline  Smith  Home — This  Home  was  established  at  Little 
Rock,  Ark.,  by  a donation  of  $1,800  by  Mrs.  Philander  Smith  of 
Oak  Park,  111.  It  co-operates  with  Philander  Smith  College.  While 
built  for  the  accommodation  of  ten  or  twelve  girls,  in  four  years  it  was 
so  crowded  that  a new  Home  was  contemplated.  The  large  new  build- 
ing dedicated  in  1887  was  also  given  by  Mrs.  Smith,  and  the  original 
building  was  turned  over  to  Philander  Smith  College. 

Rust  Industrial  Home — The  Elizabeth  Lownes  Rust  Industrial 
Home  has  the  distinction  of  being  named  by  the  first  President  of  the 
Society,  Mrs.  Lucy  Webb  Hayes,  in  honor  of  the  Society’s  gifted  Secre- 
tary, Mrs,  Elizabeth  Lownes  Rust,  and  also  of  receiving  Mrs.  Hayes’  last 
gift,  a barrel  which  she  herself  packed.  It  is  one  of  the  group  of  Homes 
in  the  Southwest  that  have  had  much  success  in  working  out  educational 
plans  for  that  great  rural  section.  When  the  girls  first  came  to  Rust  Home 
many  of  them  had  never  set  a table  or  used  knives  and  forks,  nor  had  they 
ever  sat  on  a chair.  Although  they  had  come  to  an  Industrial  Home,  these 
Negro  girls  objected  to  working.  They  associated  the  idea  of  work  with 
slave  days  and  thought  that  because  educated  they  would  not  have  to 
work.  It  was  one  of  the  great  missions  of  this  Home  to  help  girls  value 
and  appreciate  the  good  gift  of  work. 

Rust  Home  was  fortunate  in  having  ample  grounds  which  made  cul- 
ture of  flowers  and  shrubbery,  gardening  and  bee-raising  a valuable  part 


[37] 


of  their  training.  In  one  year  alone  the  apiary  produced  one  hundred 
pounds  of  honey.  Cooking  courses,  too,  were  planned  with  regard  to  the 
special  need  of  the  rural  maiden.  They  did  not  teach  fancy  cooking, 
but  how  to  make  good  yeast  bread,  simple  desserts, — the  uses  of  oatmeal, 
cracked  wheat  and  other  inexpensive,  healthful  foods.  They  laid  special 
stress  on  the  proper  cooking  of  vegetables,  meats  and  food  for  the  sick, 
also  on  the  care  and  economy  of  supplies.  It  was  said  of  one  girl  who 
entered  the  home  that  she  did  not  know  a tea-kettle  from  a rolling-pin, 
but  before  leaving  she  learned  to  make  the  best  bread  and  prepare  a good 
dinner.  When  girls  entered  the  Home  with  neither  shoes  nor  hats,  with 
clothes  tied  on,  having  never  used  a needle,  the  sewing  classes  filled  a 
serious  need  in  their  life. 

The  original  Rust  Home  was  a small  brick  house  with  three  acres 
of  ground,  a farm  of  fourteen  acres  and  three  cottages  bought  in  1 883. 
In  1 884  a substantial  building  was  erected  to  accommodate  twenty-four 
girls.  It  was  connected  with  Rust  University,  one  of  the  oldest  in  the 
South.  Another  building  contained  the  sewing  department  with  laundry 
beneath.  There  the  girls  of  the  Home  and  one  hundred  more  from  the 
university  received  instruction.  Four  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars 
was  contributed  by  the  Slater  Fund  for  the  development  of  industrial 
work  in  the  Home.  History  mentions  as  a special  feature  “The  Old 
Sisters’  Home.’’  In  1890  one  of  the  cottages  was  fitted  up  as  a place  of 
refuge  for  a few  old  women  of  slave  days  who  needed  help.  One  of  the 
fine  touches  of  the  Home  life  at  Rust  was  the  care  of  these  old  women 
by  the  girls. 

The  description  of  Rust  Home  in  1911  is  significant  in  that  it  gives 
a typical  account  of  the  lights  and  shadows  of  these  interesting 
Homes:  “Situated  on  the  campus  of  Rust  University  with  beautiful 
lawn,  flower-beds  and  majestic  oaks  in  front;  in  the  rear  a vegetable 
garden  which  yielded  two  hundred  and  fifty  bushels  of  sweet  potatoes  in 
one  year,  bat  the  house  needs  paint.  We  are  proud  of  our  laundry  with 
stationary  tubs,  but  there  is  not  a bath  tub,  hospital  room,  guest  room  or 
fire-escape.  The  past  year  has  been  the  best  that  the  work  has  ever 
known,  but  the  home  is  in  a sense  exclusive,  fifty  girls  having  been  refused 
admission  on  account  of  lack  of  accommodations.  Three  hundred  dollars 
was  secured  some  time  ago  to  purchase  a furnace,  but  it  was  not  sufficient 


[38] 


and  twenty-two  stoves  are  still  used  to  heat  our  Home.”  Having  learned 
by  costly  experience  that  fires  were  frequent  and  destructive  in  many 
Homes  of  the  Society,  it  was  a great  relief  to  the  entire  constituency 
when  the  heating  plant  was  installed  in  Rust,  said  to  be  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  the  Industrial  Homes.  It  was  a great  day  when  lovely  green 
velour  rugs  and  a radiating  plant  took  the  place  of  the  old  rag  rugs  and 
twenty-two  historic  stoves. 

There  was  a motto  known  at  Rust  Home,  “Even  in  digging  a ditch 
now  there  is  science.”  That  this  idea  bore  good  fruit  is  seen  in  the  special 
merit  of  the  students’  work.  In  February,  1918,  the  National  Food 
Administration  required  that  all  women  graduates  should  take  the  specific 
food  administration  courses  of  sixteen  lectures.  A class  was  organized 
at  Rust.  Nine  completed  the  course  and  were  granted  Food  Adminis- 
tration certificates.  The  district  agent  examined  the  class  and  promised 
the  girls  first  choice  to  do  demonstration  work  because  they  were  so  well 
prepared.  She  offered  the  teacher  of  the  class  $150  a month  and  one 
of  the  graduates  $50  a month. 

In  1914a  committee  of  four  men  and  women  was  sent  by  the  Gov- 
ernment to  inspect  all  the  Southern  schools.  They  reached  Holly  Springs 
last  and  declared  enthusiastically  that  Rust  Home  was  the  most  homelike 
of  all. 

Peck  School  of  Domestic  Science  and  Art — The  earliest 
record  of  the  first  missionary  sent  out  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
was  that  of  Rev.  Ebenezer  Brown,  appointed  in  1819  to  labor  among 
the  French  at  New  Orleans.  The  first  message  from  Mrs.  J.  C.  Hartzell, 
pleading  for  the  Negro  women  of  the  church,  came  from  New  Orleans. 
The  first  flash  of  inspiration  came  to  a little  group  of  people  when  they 
looked  upon  conditions  in  New  Orleans  and  resolved  to  found  a Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  to  minister  to  such  as  these.  For  years  mis- 
sionaries had  labored  with  Italians  and  French  alike  to  lift  them  out  of 
their  sins  and  poverty  and  ignorance.  From  days  of  earliest  Methodist 
history,  Louisiana,  the  flower  garden  of  America,  had  been  missionary 
ground.  But  not  till  1 889  was  Peck  Home  for  Negroes  a reality.  The 
ground,  consisting  of  an  entire  square  of  three  acres,  was  purchased  in 
1887  by  Mrs.  Ziba  Bennett  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Penn.,  and  the  building 
erected  two  years  later  in  memory  of  Bishop  Peck  was  largely  paid  for 


[39] 


by  the  Central  New  York  Conference.  The  Home  was  an  Industrial 
Home  and  nominally  was  in  affiliation  with  New  Orleans  University, 
but  it  was  located  so  far  from  the  University  that  it  was  very  difficult  to 
carry  on  practical  educational  work  there.  The  greater  stress  was  laid, 
therefore,  on  training  in  the  domestic  arts  that  came  within  the  province 
of  the  Home.  In  1897,  Peck  Home  was  destroyed  by  fire.  In  1899, 
the  lot  where  it  stood  was  sold,  and  a new  lot  in  the  rear  of  the  Univer- 
sity was  secured  from  the  Freedmen’s  Aid  Society  through  a permanent 
lease.  The  new  Peck  Home  was  begun  in  1911,  “after  fourteen  and  a 
half  years  of  longing  and  three  and  a half  years  of  hard  work  and  dis- 
couragements and  disappointments.”  During  the  intervening  years  the 
University  had  literally  taken  them  in.  In  1903  the  same  conditions 
prevailed  at  New  Orleans  as  at  Claflin  and  the  same  changes  were  made. 

A school  of  domestic  science  with  a sewing  department  was  established 
and  all  girls,  in  order  to  graduate  from  the  University,  must  pass  in  these 
branches.  Peck  School  of  Domestic  Science  was  fortunate  in  having  a 
gifted  teacher  in  the  cooking  classes.  It  was  said  that  one  hundred  and 
seven  girls  made  the  creditable  and  remarkable  record  of  not  burning  or 
otherwise  spoiling  a single  dish  of  food  in  the  whole  term.  The  teacher 
was  called  the  “Apostle  of  Cleanliness.”  With  a record  of  such  splendid  * 
work  behind  them,  Peck  girls  and  teachers  deserved  the  new  Home  which 
celebrated  Opening  Day  in  April,  1912. 

The  teachers  of  Peck  Home  not  only  carried  on  their  own  work  in 
the  Domestic  Science  Department,  but  assisted  in  the  work  of  the  Italian 
and  English  churches,  in  the  New  Orleans  University  Sunday-school  and 
the  Italian  Sunday-school.  Pupils  in  the  classes  of  the  mission  gave  one- 
half  day  each  week  to  the  teaching  of  dietetics  at  Sarah  Goodridge 
Hospital.  In  response  to  a call  for  good  books,  twelve  hundred  were 
sent  to  the  Home. 

In  1915,  through  the  influence  of  Dr.  Jesse  Jones  of  the  Department 
of  the  Interior,  Peck  School  of  Domestic  Science  and  Art  received  $200 
from  the  Phelps-Stokes  Fund,  which  enabled  the  management  to  add  % 
home  gardening,  temporarily,  to  the  industrial  classes. 

Progress  is  the  keynote  to  this  work  in  the  far  South;  the  last  record 
is  always  the  best, — one  hundred  and  fifty  girls  in  the  day  school,  forty- 
five  in  the  Home  family,  over  1 ,000  garments  made  and  exhibited  to 


[40] 


show  the  pupils’  ability  to  sew.  Yet  in  the  background  is  the  memory 
of  the  many  girls  who  were  refused  entrance  because  of  lack  of  room. 
To  them  the  door  was  shut. 

Faith  Kindergarten — A kindergarten  was  opened  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Peck  Home  for  Negro  children.  It  was  originally  an  experi- 
ment, but  turned  out  to  be  the  best  possible  thing  to  do.  Faith  Kinder- 
garten developed  wonderfully.  A playground  opened  in  1911,  and  a 
fountain,  were  great  helps  in  reaching  the  children.  As  the  work  pro- 
gressed older  girls  in  Faith  Kindergarten  were  taken  twice  a week  for 
sewing  lessons  by  Peck  Home  teachers. 

King  Home — Whenever  an  attempt  is  made  to  impress  people  with 
the  size  of  a country  and  the  bigness  of  Uncle  Sam’s  domain,  comparison 
is  made  to  the  state  of  Texas,  while  the  small  boy  is  amazed  to  learn  in 
school  that  the  “Lone  Star’’  state  is  thirty-three  times  the  size  of  Massa- 
chusetts. The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  divided  the  country 
into  Bureaus  to  facilitate  its  secretarial  work.  Texas  was  so  large  that 
the  state  was  made  a bureau  by  itself,  yet  the  bureau  of  Texas  is  bigger 
than  any  other.  Out  of  a population  of  2,500,000,  over  400,000  are 
Negroes.  The  work  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  has 
been  in  the  confines  of  two  Negro  Conferences,  and  its  two  Homes  for 
Negro  girls  were  built  in  what  is  known  as  the  “black  belt’’  of  Texas. 
The  forerunner  of  the  work  was  an  Industrial  Home  at  Harrisburg,  con- 
ducted by  a Mrs.  Howells,  which  was  not  a part  of  the  Bureau.  It  was 
the  desire  of  that  faithful  worker  that  the  work  at  Harrisburg  be  taken 
over  by  the  Society.  That  proved  not  feasible,  but  work  could  be 
opened  at  Marshall,  the  seat  of  Wiley  University.  In  fact,  some  money 
had  already  been  collected  for  that  purpose.  That  a home  at  Marshall 
was  of  primary  importance  can  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  250,000  Negroes 
were  within  a radius  of  one  hundred  miles  of  that  city,  which  was  a rail- 
road centre  and  easily  accessible.  Again,  the  only  provision  made  by 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Texas  for  higher  education  of  the 
Negro  was  at  Wiley  University.  And  even  though  3,000  Negro  teach- 
ers were  employed  in  the  schools  of  the  state,  many  of  them  had  no  indus- 
trial training  and  were  therefore  unable  to  train  their  pupils  in  a way  that 
would  improve  their  home  life.  As  the  secretary  of  the  bureau  said,  “It 
is  the  accepted  fact  that  all  high  standards  of  education  for  girls  are  futile 


when  the  atmosphere  of  the  home  is  the  reverse  of  all  that  is  truly  refining.” 

During  the  year  1 889,  King  Industrial  Home  was  started  with  plans 
to  accommodate  forty  girls  besides  teachers  and  superintendent,  with 
industrial  room,  library,  reception  room  and  housekeeping  suite.  It  was 
enclosed  and  plastered,  but  at  that  point  work  ceased,  to  await  further 
appropriations.  A building  worth  $6,500  had  to  stand  idle  because  of 
the  lack  of  $1,600  to  complete  it,  while  pupils  gathering  at  Wiley 
University  were  in  need  of  a home. 

The  year  1 890  saw  this  much-needed  building  partly  completed  with 
some  furnishings,  both  substantial  and  beautiful.  King  Industrial  Home 
began  its  service  to  the  community  with  unfinished  attic,  ungraded 
grounds  and  imperfect  water  system.  Slowly  but  surely  these  handicaps 
were  removed,  so  by  1891  all  was  finished.  There  were  a variety  of 
students  in  the  Home,  motherless  girls,  a widow  and  a bride  of  six  months, 
supported  by  her  husband,  who  wished  her  to  learn  how  to  keep  house. 
The  sewing  and  cooking  classes  were  attended  by  other  girls  from  the 
college. 

The  millinery  department  of  King  Industrial  Home  was  self-sup- 
porting from  the  first,  and  when  a sewing  annex  was  to  be  built  in  1904 
this  department  gave  over  forty  dollars  toward  the  building  fund.  The 
seniors  of  the  Domestic  Science  Department  taught  a class  in  the  Negro 
public  school  of  Marshall  and  did  so  well  that  the  superintendent  of 
King  Home  received  a letter  of  appreciation  from  the  Board  of 
Education. 

Several  girls  spent  from  three  to  six  years  in  the  Industrial  Home 
and  showed  wonderful  development,  proving  beyond  doubt  that  women 
of  their  race  were  capable  of  advanced  training.  Although  King  Home 
had  been  equipped  with  electric  lights  and  baths,  and  connected  with 
city  sewerage,  there  was  much  to  be  done.  Its  chief  need  seemed  to  be  a 
domestic  science  room,  but  by  1912  the  Society  had  to  turn  its  attention 
to  a more  serious  condition  at  Marshall.  Like  the  “one  hoss  shay,” 
King  Home  threatened  to  go  to  pieces  all  over  as  a result  of  years  of 
usage,  since  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  many  students  and  classes  was 
inevitable.  It  looked  as  if  the  school  would  have  to  close.  But  friends 
rallied  loyally  and  a thorough  overhauling  put  King  Industrial  Home  in 
line  for  work  once  more.  Friends  and  students  rejoiced  in  the  transfor- 

[42] 


mation  and  with  renewed  interest  filled  up  Home  and  classrooms.  On 
graduation  day  girls  who  a few  years  before  had  never  handled  a needle 
wore  lovely  dresses  made  by  themselves.  In  recent  years  fine  displays  of 
sewing,  fruit-preserving  and  fine  hand-work  have  made  “King  Day”  at 
Marshall  a function.  It  was  at  King  that  one  of  the  girls  claimed  that 
there  was  only  one  “sinnah”  among  them.  This  Home  was  destroyed  by 
fire,  and  the  work  is  still  occupying  temporary  quarters. 

Eliza  Dee  Home — In  February,  1901,  the  Society  received  from 
Rev.  F.  Carson  Moore  a quitclaim  deed  to  property  at  Harrisburg 
consisting  of  sixty  acres,  with  a clause  in  the  deed  binding  the  Society 
to  put  $4,000  in  permanent  improvements  before  the  deed  was  in  force. 
At  this  time  a sewing  teacher,  a graduate  of  King  Home  dressmaking 
department,  was  sent  to  the  Samuel  Huston  College,  Austin,  Texas,  to 
take  charge  of  the  Industrial  Department.  With  the  opening  of  this  line 
of  work  at  Austin  thoughts  of  an  Industrial  Home  for  West  Texas 
Conference  in  connection  with  Samuel  Huston  College  came  to  the  front. 

In  May,  1 904,  a seven-room  building  and  three  lots  were  purchased 
at  Austin.  The  new  Home,  named  Eliza  Dee,  was  located  across  the 
street  from  the  college.  It  was  opened  in  October,  1904,  with  fifteen 
girls  in  the  Home  and  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  in  all  classes;  rooms 
were  provided  in  the  college  for  sewing  classes.  In  one  year  it  was 
crowded  beyond  its  capacity.  This  same  year  a visit  to  Harrisburg, 
Texas,  resulted  in  the  property  there  being  placed  in  the  hands  of  a 
lawyer  for  adjustment.  The  location  did  not  seem  sufficiently  important 
to  warrant  $4,000  being  put  on  it  for  improvements.  The  donor  had 
died, — it  seemed  better  to  put  the  money  contributed  for  the  Harrisburg 
property  into  the  Eliza  Dee  Home.  Then  the  Society  had  a Home  in 
each  of  the  two  Texas  Conferences,  a much  wiser  arrangement,  as 
Harrisburg  and  Marshall  were  in  the  same  Conference. 

In  1909  twenty-eight  girls  finished  different  courses  at  Austin,  and 
though  splendid  work  was  done  each  year,  the  school  could  not  grow 
for  need  of  room.  A larger  Home  was  built  and  the  new  Eliza  Dee 
Home  had  thirty-one  residents  and  one  hundred  and  seventeen  in  domestic 
science  and  sewing  classes  the  first  year.  The  next  year,  1918,  outside 
improvements,  including  sidewalks,  made  the  property  a Model  Indus- 
trial Home.  A pleasing  mark  of  appreciation  of  their  foster-home  was 
shown  by  the  girls  who  worked  and  earned  money  to  furnish  rooms  in 
the  new  building. 


[43] 


\ 


In  Mormon  Strongholds 


; 


$ 


Ill 


IN  MORMON  STRONGHOLDS 

* * * 

IF  a man  has  once  formed  opinions,  though  based  on  error,  he  is  apt 
to  hold  to  them  as  strongly  as  if  his  premises  had  been  correct.  If 
he  has  built  the  structure  of  his  life  upon  them,  even  to  the  regulation  of 
his  home  and  family,  the  chances  are  that  he  will  not  willingly  surrender 
them  or  the  habits  of  life  which  they  have  engendered. 

When  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  turned  its  face  toward 
Utah  with  the  hope  to  wipe  out  polygamy  and  to  reconstruct  the  thinking, 
the  homes  and  the  practices  of  Mormons,  it  had  not  chosen  a “royal  road 
to  service.’’  No  harder,  no  more  inglorious,  yet  no  more  ambitious  task 
was  ever  attempted  by  consecrated  women!  The  people  to  whom  they 
went  believed  in  polygamy  and  the  blasphemous  claims  of  Brigham 
Young.  They  were  convinced  that  the  doctrine  of  polygany  was  right 
and  though  it  might  not  give  happiness  here  on  earth  it  would  secure 
that  precious  gift  hereafter.  In  the  South  were  many  people  in  need  of 
homes, — in  Utah  each  man  was  busy  setting  up  more  than  one  hearth- 
stone for  himself.  The  more  women  he  could  win  the  better  he  felt 
himself  to  be.  There  is  nothing  in  life  more  powerful,  more  beautiful 
and  yet  withal  more  dangerous  than  sex.  These  deluded  people  were 
devoting  God’s  best  gift  to  the  race  to  practices  that  would  lead  ultimately 
to  destruction. 

The  order  of  work  in  the  South  was  missionary,  industrial,  educa- 
tional. Missionaries  would  go  to  the  poor  freed  woman,  teach  her  the 
better  way,  gather  her  children  into  a Home,  teach  them  industrial 
pursuits  and  so  educate  them  till  they  were  self-supporting.  The  plan 
had  to  be  reversed  in  Utah.  It  became  educational,  missionary,  industrial. 
In  the  South  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  worked  as  sup- 
plementary to  the  church.  But  the  women  realized  that  success  in  Utah 
depended  upon  saving  the  church  property  and  standing  staunch  upon 
the  firing  line  of  a greater  frontier.  Furthermore,  all  the  laws  in  the 


[47] 


universe  would  not  open  the  doors  of  Mormon  homes  to  the  church  nor 
could  legislation  make  “Christian  Americans  out  of  Mormon  devotees.” 
To  the  women  with  needle  and  thimble,  with  a propensity  for  finding 
out  things  through  a neighborly  chat,  with  ability  to  teach  a lesson  on 
all  occasions,  was  the  call  given  to  reach  the  polygamous  wife  and  mother 
who  guarded  her  religion  and  her  children  with  strict  surveillance.  Very 
quickly  they  settled  upon  several  methods  of  procedure.  House  to  house 
visiting  gave  them  statistics  as  well  as  being  the  natural  initial  step.  Their 
“policy  of  agitation”  was  conducted  with  fine  acumen.  They  deter- 
mined to  give  the  Christian  Church  at  large  an  accurate  knowledge  of 
what  this  “Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints”  really  taught 
and  what  was  meant  by  the  exhortation  to  “live  their  religion.”  Leaflet 
literature  was  published  containing  copious  and  scrupulously  correct 
extracts  from  books  of  this  church — which  Mormons  claimed  to  be 
direct  revelations  of  God!  Christian  America  was  to  be  aroused  to 
the  fact  that  1 ,500  Mormon  missionaries  were  at  work  in  this  country 
disseminating  such  doctrines. 

They  soon  saw  that  by  exciting  the  opposition  of  the  priesthood  they 
began  immediately  to  agitate  the  waters  of  ignorance.  They  became 
centers  of  interest.  People  began  discussing  the  questions  before  the 
children,  and  a wise  teacher  could  accomplish  wonders.  The  opposition 
of  the  priesthood  and  unfavorable  attitude  of  mothers  brought  upon  the 
working  corps  of  the  Society  a series  of  annoyances,  hardships  and 
obstacles  which  often  taxed  their  strength  and  ingenuity.  They  led  a 
life  of  ostracism  and  were  unwelcome  to  the  community  because  of  the 
hostility  of  the  priests.  To  offset  the  results  of  personal  persecutions  and 
Mormon  prejudice,  teacher  and  missionary  had  to  go  into  the  field  fully 
and  carefully  equipped,  or  else  they  would  suffer  for  the  necessities  of 
life.  Not  even  the  commonest  kind  of  a room  for  a school  could  be 
rented.  One  woman  had  a desperate  time  finding  an  empty  room  to  live 
in.  She  managed  to  secure  a blanket  but  had  to  have  her  bread  baked 
in  a neighboring  town. 

The  children  in  the  Mission  School  suffered  persecution.  The  little 
Mormons  would  beat  them  and  call  their  mothers  “Methodist  squaws.” 
One  flourishing  school  fell  off  from  sixty  to  four  as  a result  of  a 
personal  canvass  by  leading  men  of  the  town.  During  the  years  of  such 


[48] 


work  the  Society  was  able  to  put  into  this  difficult  field  well-trained 
workers  from  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  Training  School,  from  Kansas  City, 
San  Francisco,  Folts  Institute,  and  Ohio  Wesleyan  University.  None 
did  braver  work  than  the  pioneer  missionaries  of  Utah.  They  went 
cheerfully  into  isolated  places  and  performed  the  duties  of  every  office 
of  the  church  possible  for  them  to  perform. 

The  first  auxiliary  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  in 
Utah  was  organized  at  Ogden,  in  an  effort  to  relieve  the  church  and 
school  at  that  place.  Teachers  were  located  in  Mormon  centers  where 
school  houses  were  provided  by  the  Society  or  by  the  Church  Extension 
Society  of  the  church.  They  taught  ten  months  of  the  year  for  forty 
dollars  a month,  the  same  as  missionaries. 

When  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  first  entered  Utah, 
knowledge  of  State  conditions  enabled  the  women  to  plan  with  an  eye 
to  a future  public  school  system.  As  there  was  no  educational  work  at 
that  time  and  as  the  school  house  was  the  open  sesame  to  missionary 
influence,  the  Society  arranged  to  build  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  school  houses 
as  fast  as  means  would  allow.  These  would  answer  for  educational 
purposes  and  later  could  be  used  for  missionary  work.  This  also  necessi- 
tated a call  upon  the  Society  for  an  increase  of  teachers  from  six  to  ten, 
to  be  placed  as  follows:  two  at  the  Scandinavian  Mission;  two  al 
Grantsville  and  Spanish  Fork,  where  the  Church  Extension  Society  had 
built  chapels;  one  at  Elsinore,  Richfield,  Ephraim  and  Cache  Valley 
respectively. 

During  the  years,  the  roll  of  Mission  Stations  and  Mission  Schools 
stood  as  follows: 

Salt  Lal?e  City.  Spencer  House,  money  for  which  was  given  for  Scandi- 
navian work  only.  A school  of  fifty  was  built  up. 

Mt.  Pleasant.  Thomson  Mission,  where  the  people  were  worshipping 
in  a dance  hall  when  the  Society  took  hold.  In  1887  a request 
to  transfer  the  church  to  a local  board  of  trustees  was  granted, 
as  it  was  a policy  of  the  Society  to  own  no  church  property.  Later 
the  church  was  removed  to  Junction. 

Spring  City.  Leach  Home.  The  property  here  was  owned  by  the 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  provided  the  teacher.  In 


[49] 


1916  they  kept  the  kindergarten,  but  closed  graded  work  and 
took  up  community  work.  Every  phase  of  Christian  work  had  to 
be  developed  here. 

Provo . The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  built  a church  for  the 
Scandinavians,  who  were  slow  in  taking  it  over.  It  was  an  educa- 
tional stronghold  of  the  Mormon  church  and  the  missionary  was  a 
daughter  of  the  first  wife  of  a Mormon,  who  had  been  converted 
from  Mormonism. 

Elsinore . Columbus  Home.  The  school  grew  here,  and  older  girls 
wishing  to  enter,  it  finally  became  an  industrial  school. 

Moroni . Gurley  House.  Kindergartens  were  established  at  this  most 
isolated  station. 

Logan . Philadelphia  Conference  Home.  This  school  opened  with 
eight  children  and  had  thirty-three  the  second  day.  It  was  situated 
opposite  the  Mormon  temple  on  a lot  adjacent  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church. 

Ephraim . A school  in  Phoebe  Palmer  Memorial  Chapel,  also  schools 
at  Murray  and  Spanish  Fork. 

Richfield.  The  Society  built  a church  and  later  deeded  it  to  a local 
board  of  trustees. 

Marysville.  Added  to  Elsinore  Station. 

In  1 892  the  work  of  the  Society  was  no  more  a part  of  the  Utah 
Mission,  but  by  a General  Conference  ruling  the  English  work  of  the 
church  was  placed  under  the  Utah  Mission  and  the  Scandinavian  mis- 
sions were  placed  under  the  Northwest  Norwegian-Danish  Mission. 

One  of  the  very  first  appropriations  asked  for  by  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society  was  $5,000  toward  building  a boarding  house  for 
the  church’s  seminary  at  Salt  Lake  City.  The  boarding  home  was 
essential,  but  it  is  a significant  fact  that  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  alone  was  in  a position  to  finance  that  important  requisite  for 
the  school.  The  Home  was  opened  in  1 883,  and  greatly  strengthened 
the  educational  work  at  Salt  Lake  City. 

Three  years  later,  in  view  of  complications  arising  out  of  joint  owner- 
ship of  the  buildings  of  Salt  Lake  Seminary,  and  since  it  was  not  used 


[50] 


for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  built,  the  Society  was  moved  to  settle 
the  status  of  the  ownership  and  to  provide  for  the  work  for  which  it 
was  designed, — -the  helping  of  poor  girls  to  a better  education.  The  result 
was  that  Davis  Hall  was  converted  into  an  educational  and  Industrial 
Home  for  girls. 

Ten  years  brought  a rapid  change  of  conditions  in  Utah.  The  terri- 
tory was  opened  to  Gentile  settlers.  Commerce  and  Christian  education 
were  having  a wholesome  effect.  Polygamy  was  still  practiced,  but 
clandestinely.  A public  school  system  was  well  sustained.  The  small 
mission  schools  were  no  longer  needed  in  Salt  Lake  City,  Ogden,  Logan 
and  Provo.  The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  came  to  a place 
where  it  must  carry  on  from  a different  angle  to  meet  changed  conditions. 
It  had  worked  largely  among  Scandinavians,  a cause  for  anxiety  among 
some  members  of  the  Society.  In  1 894  request  for  advice  as  to  the  best 
way  of  applying  appropriations  and  the  conduct  of  the  work  was  made 
through  the  missionary  superintendent,  the  Presiding  Elder  and  Bishop 
Merrill,  all  of  whom  were  familiar  with  the  situation.  They  in  turn 
reported  to  the  Committee  of  Education  and  the  Committee  on  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society,  Both  committees  agreed  on  the  wisdom  of  a 
departure  from  former  methods.  The  report  read  as  follows:  “The 
action  of  the  Mission  Conference  is  to  invite  the  co-operation  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  for  the  establishment  of  deaconess 
work  at  Salt  Lake  City ; to  make  Davis  Hall  headquarters  for  the  work ; 
to  employ  deaconnesses  and  if  possible  one  or  more  trained  nurses,  and 
to  establish  a kindergarten  in  connection  with  the  work.  One  of  the 
most  important  features  should  be  the  rescue  of  young  girls  and  women 
stranded  in  the  city.’’  The  churches  of  the  city  promised  financial  aid  in 
deaconess  work.  It  was  expected  that  the  nurse  and  kindergarten  work 
would  be  self-supporting.  In  due  time  this  plan  was  adopted. 

That  same  year  the  Missionary  Conference  decided  not  to  open  Salt 
Lake  Seminary  as  a school,  but  to  place  Davis  Hall  and  furnishings  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  This  would 
place  a strong  Protestant  institution  at  Salt  Lake  City.  Spencer  Home 
was  to  co-operate  with  this  work,  but  since  it  was  deeded  to  the  Society 
with  a provision  that  it  be  used  for  Scandinavian  work  it  could  not  be 
held  if  used  otherwise.  Circumstances  later  made  it  more  practical  for 


[51] 


the  Society  to  rent  Spencer  Home  and  use  the  money  to  pay  for  a 
deaconess  to  work  exclusively  among  Scandinavians. 

In  1 896  the  Society  had  five  auxiliaries  in  Utah,  half  of  their  dues 
going  into  the  general  treasury.  They  were  given  a regular  day  at 
Conference  meetings  and  the  local  deaconess  board  was  recognized  by 
the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  as  a standing  committee  to  aid 
the  Secretary  of  the  Mormon  Bureau  in  supervision  of  the  work  at  Salt 
Lake  City.  Such  was  the  strengthening  of  missionary  work  as  the  educa- 
tional program  was  passed  on.  There  was  sore  need  of  it,  too.  Chil- 
dren were  taught  to  distrust  Christianity  while  their  parents,  who  aposta- 
tized from  Mormonism,  became  infidels  rather  than  Christians.  “Infi- 
delity was  a ripe  fruit  of  Mormonism.” 

1 899  was  a great  year  for  publicity,  and  the  Society  used  its  full 
strength  toward  rousing  righteous  indignation  throughout  the  country  at 
the  election  of  the  avowed  polygamist,  B.  H.  Roberts,  to  Congress.  Of 
course,  this  agitation  over  the  unseating  of  Roberts  made  the  opposition 
against  the  Utah  workers  more  active,  but  remembering  that  “no  man 
having  put  his  hand  to  the  plow  looking  backward  is  fit  for  the  Kingdom,” 
the  Society  kept  on  in  spite  of  increasing  hindrances.  Reports  of  part 
of  the  work  at  the  Mission  Conference  were  published  by  local  news- 
papers. As  already  stated,  a mission  school  was  reduced  from  sixty  to 
four.  Undaunted,  the  makers  kept  the  school  open  for  the  four  and  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  term  thirty-four  had  returned.  Meantime  the  Society 
got  up  a petition  for  the  anti-polygamy  constitutional  amendment  three 
hundred  yards  long,  and  sent  it  to  Washington. 

In  1901'  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  had  ten  stations  in 
Utah,  with  missions  well  located.  Seven  stations  had  good  property.  At 
this  point  they  felt  that  libraries  should  be  established  in  at  least  five 
mission  stations  in  Utah,  for  the  children  had  to  have  access  to  good 
books.  A year  later  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  volumes  of  Bishop 
Bowman’s  library  were  given  to  the  Bureau.  Plans  were  made  for  a 
central  library  from  which  books  could  be  sent  to  various  stations.  In 
1901  it  was  evident  that  the  entire  Northwest  was  face  to  face  with  the 
Mormon  problem.  Its  policy  was  colonization.  Eagerly  the  organiza- 
tion pushed  its  people  into  adjacent  territory.  Ill  six  states  and  territories 
it  held  the  balance  of  power  politically.  It  had  an  eye  to  possessing 


[52] 


the  wealth  of  the  country  also.  A committee  passed  on  choice  locations 
for  colonization, — taking  into  account  natural  resources,  water  privileges, 
wealth  of  mines  and  rich  valleys.  It  is  evident  today  that  the  Mormons 
are  a wealthy  people,  strong  politically,  and  in  more  need  of  Christianity 
than  ever.  During  the  last  twenty  years  the  hope  of  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society,  as  well  as  of  all  Christian  organizations,  has  been  to 
relegate  the  Mormon  church  to  the  propaganda  of  a creed,  taking  away 
its  power  as  a commercial  and  a political  organization.  Could  that  be 
accomplished,  the  vitality  would  soon  depart  from  the  creed. 

Davis  Deaconess  Home  was  located  one-third  of  a block  from  the 
heart  of  the  business  center  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  thereby  had  become 
very  valuable  as  the  city  developed.  The  property  was  sold  in  1906 
and  with  the  proceeds  the  Society  was  able  to  purchase  a new  house  on 
Fourth  Street,  modern,  and  beautifully  situated,  to  repair  the  buildings 
at  all  the  other  stations  but  one,  and  to  turn  in  a creditable  sum  to  the 
treasury  of  the  Society.  The  home  is  a “Missionary  Deaconess  Home.” 
Its  relation  to  the  General  Society  is  the  same  as  any  industrial  school 
or  Home  supported  by  the  Society.  Being  in  the  difficult  Mormon 
environment  it  cannot  yet  be  supported  by  the  local  auxiliaries  as  other 
deaconess  homes  are. 

In  1913  the  Society  purchased  Ogden  Mission  and  Home  for  Work- 
ing Girls.  The  second  part  of  the  institution  was  to  make  a Christian 
home  for  self-respecting  wage-earning  girls  and  was  expected  to  be  self- 
supporting.  It  was  located  near  the  business  section,  yet  in  a good 
neighborhood,  and  was  named  Jesse  Bowen  Sterling  Young  Woman’s 
Hall.  It  was  comfortably  furnished  by  friends  in  Ogden.  The  fine 
library  was  a memorial  to  Mrs.  Clinton  B.  Fisk  from  the  New  York 
Conference.  Sterling  Hall  became  a safety  zone  for  girls  of  small  wage. 
In  three  years  its  capacity  was  taxed  so  that  the  third  floor  was  fixed  up 
for  a dormitory.  It  continued  to  grow  in  popularity  until  an  annex 
seemed  inevitable.  A new  property  instead  was  purchased  at  Ogden  in 
1918  for  Sterling  Hall.  The  large  building  of  the  new  plant  was  called 
Ogden  Esther  Home  (open  for  Gentile  girls),  the  smaller  building 
carrying  the  name  of  Sterling  Hall.  The  plans  called  for  a cafeteria 
for  noon  lunches  at  moderate  prices.  Later,  if  wise,  evening  classes  and 
clubs  will  be  opened  for  resident  and  non-resident  girls. 


[53] 


For  the  last  ten  years  the  plan  for  federation  of  Christian  churches 
in  Utah  has  been  agitated.  This  led  the  Society  to  refrain  from  making 
elaborate  repairs  in  buildings  at  the  stations  or  from  opening  up  new  work. 
In  1 9 1 8 the  following  stations,  property  of  the  W Oman’s  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society,  were  sold  to  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church:  Elsinore,  Junction, 
Spring  City,  Moroni,  Logan  and  Provo.  Mount  Pleasant  also  was 
disposed  of.  Extension  work  under  the  Deaconess  Home  has  been  taken 
up  in  the  Italian  portion  of  the  city  and  at  Bingham  Canyon,  twenty-eight 
miles  from  Salt  Lake  City.  Bingham  Canyon  is  the  center  of  the  greatest 
copper  mining  in  the  world.  It  has  fifteen  thousand  people  of  twenty- 
nine  nationalities, — a rich  field  for  Christian  Americanization. 

In  taking  up  new  work  the  Society  can  but  cast  an  eye  of  pride  over 
the  past  years  in  Utah.  It  is  still  a mission  field  and  Mormon  power  has 
not  yet  been  broken,  but  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  has 
done  a noble  work.  It  built  churches,  schools,  homes  and  libraries,  and 
helped  to  establish  the  Scandinavian  Mission.  It  maintained  day  schools, 
Sunday-schools,  missionary  and  industrial  schools  for  thirty  years.  It 
has  today  a strong  Deaconess  Institution  at  Salt  Lake  City  and  a success- 
ful Esther  Home  at  Ogden,  and  is  better  equipped  than  ever  to  do  great 
things  for  the  Kingdom. 


L 54  ] 


From  Community  Schools  To  College 


White  Work  in  the  South 


Name 

Location 

Affiliated  with 

Ritter 

Athens,  Tenn. 

University  of 
Chattanooga 

Bennett  Academy  and 
Industrial  Homes 

Mathiston,  Miss. 

McCleskey 

Boaz,  Ala. 

John  H.  Snead 
Seminary 

Nottingham  Primary  School 

Boaz,  Ala. 

Deborah  McCarty  Settlement 

Cedartown,  Ga. 

Settlement 

Sayre,  Ala. 

Ebenezer  Mitchell 

Misenheimer,  N.  C. 

Erie 

Olive  Hill,  Ky. 

[56] 


IV 


FROM  COMMUNITY  SCHOOLS  TO 
COLLEGE 


# * * 

IN  the  first  Report  (1884)  from  the  Bureau  for  Illiterate  White 
People,  the  description  of  poor  white  people  in  the  single  city  of 
Chattanooga  characterized  the  conditions  rapidly  coming  about  among 
those  people  in  the  cities  of  the  South.  There  were  four  hundred  children 
in  this  neglected  class  in  one  ward  alone,  and  it  was  rapidly  becoming  a 
dangerous  class  through  the  hopeless  state  of  their  parents.  The  children 
were  promising  victims  of  a life  offering  only  moral  wreckage  and  all 
manner  of  vice.  Holston  Conference  had  a mission  in  this  district,  and 
the  Methodist  women  in  Chattanooga  organized  an  auxiliary  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society,  hoping  thereby  to  prepare  the  way 
for  the  Society  to  open  an  industrial  school  in  that  part  of  the  state.  Two 
other  groups  of  white  girls  were  also  in  great  need  of  educational  oppor- 
tunities,— those  who  were  rendered  destitute  through  the  war,  and  the 
mountain  girls  who  were  cut  off  by  distance  from  schools  and  churches. 
Such  a Home  for  white  girls  was  sorely  needed  in  many  places  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bureau  for  White  People  in  the  South. 

RlTTER  Home — The  first  money  provided  through  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  for  work  among  Southern  whites  was  a gift 
of  $1,000  from  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ritter,  of  Napoleon,  Ohio,  for  an 
Industrial  Home.  Following  this  gift  the  Central  Ohio  Conference 
adopted  this  as  their  special  work. 

There  was  a question  in  the  minds  of  many  as  to  the  success  of  this 
Industrial  Home  among  white  girls,  even  though  this  sort  of  work  had 
been  so  successful  with  the  Negro  race.  It  was  feared  that  the  girls 
who  came  from  a land  where  work  had  been  relegated  to  the  Negro 
would  not  take  to  housework  willingly.  It  was  decided,  however,  that 
by  careful  planning,  tactful  and  patient  cultivation,  the  Home  would 
eventually  grow  to  satisfactory  proportions. 


[57] 


The  site  selected  for  Ritter  Home  was  at  Athens,  Tenn.  The  wis- 
dom of  this  selection  can  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  it  was  in  close  proximity 
to  the  mountain  districts  of  Tennessee,  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  North 
Carolina.  It  was  affiliated  with  the  preparatory  school  for  U.  S.  Grant 
University,  and  in  a beautiful,  healthful,  attractive  city. 

The  Industrial  Home  itself  was  beautiful.  It  had  twenty-seven 
sleeping  rooms,  parlor,  library,  teachers’  room,  dining-room,  and  two 
large  classrooms  for  sewing  and  cooking  classes,  thoroughly  equipped. 
1 he  pupils  were  to  pay  six  to  seven  dollars  a month  and  do  the  house- 
work as  training,  under  the  supervision  of  the  teachers.  After  a short 
period  of  breathless  suspense  during  which  one  or  two  girls  ventured 
timidly  into  the  Home,  Ritter  Industrial  Home  was  able  to  begin  work 
with  fourteen  girls. 

“The  white  girls  were  quite  helpless  in  their  poverty”  and  labor 
conditions  offered  no  remedy.  The  paid  service  in  the  South  was  Negro 
service.  The  “poor  white  woman”  without  culture  or  social  position 
was  not  desirable  for  any  position  that  would  pay  her  anything, — more 
than  that,  she  was  not  adapted  to  any.  Recognizing  this,  every  means 
was  used  to  keep  the  charges  in  Ritter  Home  so  low  that  no  one  would 
be  shut  out  because  of  expense.  After  the  first  year,  during  which 
twenty-five  girls  entered  the  Home,  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  could  feel  that  the  experiment  of  offering  industrial  education  to 
white  girls  was  a striking  success.  In  1893  the  enrollment  stood  at  fifty- 
one,  with  an  attendance  of  thirty-six.  There  were  fourteen  daughters  of 
ministers  and  nineteen  beneficiaries. 

Ritter  Home  opened  up  a most  welcome  opportunity  for  the  daughters 
of  the  ministers  of  the  mountain  country.  In  these  localities  the  people 
were  poor  and  the  ministers  were  foreordained  to  be  short  of  funds  when 
they  took  appointments  in  that  region.  They  were  glad,  indeed,  to  be 
able  to  place  their  daughters  near  at  home  in  such  a beautiful  environ- 
ment and  to  have  them  educated  by  the  capable  teachers  of  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society.  But  there  were  special  difficulties  in  this 
initial  work  at  Athens.  Although  these  girls  came  from  splendid  stock 
(Scotch-Irish  and  Huguenots)  and  were  proud  of  their  ancestry,  brave 
and  patriotic,  they  needed  a stimulus  to  study.  As  the  Bureau  Secretary 
said,  “They  lack  the  heroic  impulse  to  get  an  education  or  die  which 


[58] 


the  Northern  child  has  who  grows  up  in  the  atmosphere  of  a public  school. 
Yet  they  realize  that  education  is  the  only  open  door  for  them.”  Many 
pupils  were  adults  when  they  entered  the  Home,  had  formed  no  habits 
of  study,  and  found  progress  slow  and  difficult.  The  problem  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  was  “to  inspire,  to  provide  means, 
and  to  hold  them  to  patient  work  for  a term  of  years.”  By  1895  fifty 
girls  were  in  Ritter  Home,  comprising  three  classes: 

1 . Those  able  to  pay  the  entire  cost  of  very  economic  living  came 
for  academic  advantages  in  the  University,  the  tuition  at  Grant  being 
$ 1 5 to  $ 1 7 a year. 

2.  Ministers’  daughters  able  to  pay  their  traveling  expenses,  tuition 
in  the  school,  books  and  incidentals  only. 

3.  Girls  of  very  poor  families  who  had  to  be  helped  in  every  way. 
They  were  of  good  stuff, — loyal  and  pure.  Many  letters  of  these  girls 
begging  to  enter  the  Home  came  to  the  Bureau  Secretary.  She  character- 
ized them  as  a “wail  of  desire  shot  through  with  faint  gleams  of  hope.” 

The  year  1 898  was  a hard  though  prosperous  one  in  the  Ritter 
Home,  with  its  seventy-two  girls.  The  President  of  Grant  University 
wanted  all  girls  at  the  University  under  the  care  of  the  Home.  At  this 
time  two  bright  girls  of  the  Home  graduated  from  Grant  University. 

In  1902  arrangements  were  completed  so  that  Ritter  furnished  the 
Home  for  girls  and  gave  instruction  in  domestic  science,  sewing  and 
dressmaking,  and  Grant  University  furnished  academic  teaching.  By 
the  time  that  seventy-four  girls  were  in  the  Home,  they  were  hard  pressed 
for  room  and  longed  for  a dining  room  and  study  room.  The  tragedy 
of  refusing  to  take  in  any  more  girls  can  be  appreciated,  since  it  kept 
them  from  Grant  University  also,  because  Ritter  had  become  the  only 
girls’  boarding  home  of  the  University. 

When  Ritter  Home  was  fifteen  years  old  it  had  the  remarkable 
record  of  having  instructed  nine  hundred  and  fifteen  girls,  of  receiving 
the  previous  year  ninety  girls  and  of  turning  away  ninety-three.  For  eight 
years  funds  had  been  accumulating  to  build  a wing  to  the  building. 

The  new  wing  (Caroline  Frazer  Hall),  completed  in  1907,  con- 
tained a dining  room  for  one  hundred  girls,  a chapel  and  study  hall 
combined,  and  sixteen  bedrooms,  besides  halls,  closets  and  office  rooms, 


[59] 


as  fine  a monument  to  Christian  women  as  could  be  found  in  the  whole 
Southland.  At  the  time  of  the  building  of  this  wing,  the  main  building 
was  overhauled.  Repairs,  improvements  and  rearrangements  of  rooms 
made  the  building  complete  in  the  fine  details  of  a model  boarding  home 
for  girls.  That  the  students  themselves  entered  into  the  spirit  of  sacrificial 
giving  which  blesses  the  work  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
can  be  seen  in  their  gift  of  the  sideboard  for  the  new  dining  room  and  in 
the  raising  of  one  hundred  dollars  to  name  a room,  just  as  other  Circles 
and  auxiliaries  of  the  Society  were  accustomed  to  do.  Thirteen  years 
have  passed  over  this  great  school  for  white  girls  of  the  South  since  its 
enlargement.  Sometimes  the  opening  day  has  had  to  be  delayed  in  the 
fall  to  await  the  cotton  picking  and  pea  harvesting.  Financial  pressure 
may  affect  enrollments,  but  Ritter  Industrial  Home  has  passed  twenty- 
eight  years  in  progressive  upbuilding  of  character  and  holds  a proud 
place  in  affiliation  with  the  Athens  branch  of  Chattanooga  University. 

Bennett  Academy  and  Home — In  1890  a donation  was  re- 
ceived by  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society,  consisting  of  land  and 
an  unfinished  frame  structure  at  Clarkson,  Miss.  The  Society  thus  had 
within  its  hands  the  possibilities  of  an  industrial  home  affiliated  with 
Woodlawn  Academy,  a Freedmen’s  Aid  Society  school.  It  was  felt 
that  the  Society  could  not  make  appropriations  for  the  Home  at  that  time, 
but  Mrs.  Ziba  Bennett  gave  for  it  four  hundred  dollars.  The  remarkable 
returns  for  that  amount  are  worthy  of  note.  The  first  story  was!  finished, 
with  windows  and  doors  and  partition  walls,  salary  and  expenses  of  a 
teacher  were  paid,  and  several  girls  were  in  the  Home  for  a few  months. 
A second  four  hundred  dollars  from  Mrs.  Bennett  provided  teacher, 
incidental  expenses  and  furnishings,  and  eleven  girls  were  taken  into  the 
Home.  The  next  year,  another  four  hundred  dollars  with  twenty  dollars 
added  finished  and  furnished  the  second  story,  paid  the  teachers  and 
cared  for  eighteen  girls  in  the  Home.  In  1 894  the  Society  took  this 
deserving  enterprise  under  its  care  and  appropriated  eight  hundred  dollars 
to  its  support,  and  in  1896  it  was  placed  under  the  Bureau  for 
Mississippi. 

Then  Woodlawn  Academy,  under  whose  shelter  the  little  Home  took 
root  eight  years  before,  and  two  hundred  acres  of  land  were  transferred 
by  the  Freedmen’s  Aid  Society  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 


[60] 


Society  for  ninety-nine  years  at  a nominal  rental  of  one  dollar  a year. 
This  transfer  not  only  gave  greater  responsibility  to  the  Society,  but 
increased  the  facilities  for  better  education  for  white  girls  of  Mississippi. 
The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  had  now  the  power  and  author- 
ity to  develop  a first-class,  high-grade,  co-educational  institution,  which 
they  immediately  proceeded  to  do.  They  built  a new  Industrial  Home 
for  the  girls,  which,  for  that  part  of  the  country,  was  called  “palatial,” 
It  made  a great  impression  upon  the  people,  with  its  parlor  having  six 
willow  rockers,  rag  rugs  on  the  floor,  and  a cabinet  organ.  The  dining 
room  was  a delight,  having  tables  set  with  new,  white  dishes.  One  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  students  enrolled  and  they  used  the  old  Bennett  Home 
for  the  boys’  dormitory,  together  with  Dickson  Hall,  the  dormitory  built 
under  Woodlawn  Academy.  People  approved  of  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society.  They  enlarged  Dickson  Hall.  Then  the  Academy 
itself  had  to  have  larger  recitation  rooms,  for  the  number  of  students 
jumped  to  two  hundred  and  four.  Dickson  Hall  was  enlarged  with  the 
idea  of  being  part  of  a permanent  plan  of  a future  new  building.  A part 
of  old  Bennett  Home  was  torn  down,  the  rest  used  as  a manual  training 
building.  They  turned  students  away.  Up  to  1907  the  administration 
of  the  Home  and  Academy  had  been  separate,  but  at  this  time  there 
was  a change,  so  that  Bennett  Home,  Bennett  Academy  and  Dickson 
Hall  were  under  one  financial  head,  with  a president  of  the  Academy,  a 
superintendent  of  the  Home,  a matron  for  the  Hall  and  five  teachers. 
Success  was  sweet  to  the  faithful  workers  as  they  looked  upon  buildings 
painted  and  equipped  with  electric  lights  and  a new  water  system,  with 
yielding  orchards  and  two  hundred  and  fifty-three  students  filling  the 
school.  Then  in  1912  Dickson  Hall  burned  to  the  ground  and  a new 
policy  was  decided  upon. 

Intensive  study  of  educational  conditions  in  the  state  had  convinced 
the  leaders  that  the  problem  on  hand  was  a rural  one  and  that  it  was 
imperative  that  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  should  take  the 
lead  in  developing  the  educational  system  in  that  part  of  Mississippi,  since 
teachers  were  not  available  for  the  public  schools  and  officials  were  unable 
to  cope  with  the  situation.  The  Board  of  Trustees  decided  to  accept  a 
proposition  made  by  the  town  of  Mathiston,  the  railroad  point  to  which 
most  of  the  pupils  had  to  go  enroute  to  Clarkson.  Mathiston  offered  to 


give  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  fifty  acres  of  land,  $5,00(J 
and  take  the  school  there.  It  was  planned  to  maintain  a community 
settlement  at  Clarkson  for  the  younger  pupils.  With  the  aggregate  sum 
of  $40,000  derived  from  insurance  and  other  sources,  from  the  Mathiston 
offer,  and  a $30,000  appropriation,  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  started  to  build  Bennett  Academy,  Dickson  Industrial  Home  for 
Girls,  and  Irving  and  Florence  Wood  Home  for  Boys  at  Mathiston. 
The  administration  building  was  named  the  Ohio  Building,  for  the  large 
gifts  of  Ohio  women  covered  the  cost  of  that  entire  structure.  The  Indus- 
trial Home  filled  up  so  rapidly  that  in  two  years  they  were  obliged  to  use 
the  hospital  room  for  a dormitory  and  girls  were  turned  away.  How 
much  was  denied  to  those  who  were  obliged  to  go  away  can  be  under- 
stood by  the  answers  of  the  girls  when  asked  where  they  live.  One  girl 
said:  “Where  nothin’  empties  into  nowheres.”  Another  said:  “In  a 
mudhole  in  the  road.’’ 

It  has  been  the  ambition  of  Bennett  Academy  to  be  a model  for  the 
public  schools  of  Mississippi.  The  faculty  has  been  chosen  from  normal 
and  college  graduates  and  the  methods  of  teaching  have  been  thorough 
and  up-to-date  in  primary,  intermediate  and  academic  departments.  That 
the  school  has  gained  a position  of  leadership  is  seen  in  the  fact  that 
public  school  people  of  the  state  visited  Bennett  Academy  in  1 9 ! 6 to 
study  the  system  which  has  had  such  excellent  results  there. 

Although  in  the  last  two  years  financial  depression  in  the  South  did 
not  hinder  the  girls  going  back  to  school,  it  has  had  a more  unfortunate 
effect  on  the  attendance  of  the  boys.  Still,  the  Irving  and  Florence  Wood 
Home  for  Boys  under  Bennett  Academy  at  Mathiston  has  had  a very 
creditable  attendance.  The  year  1918  saw  great  changes  at  Bennett 
Academy.  Its  graduates  entered  Maine  University  and  the  University 
of  Cincinnati  for  household  arts.  Undergraduates  were  cultivating  war 
gardens  and  growing  sugar-cane  for  syrup.  Under  the  direction  of  a 
former  girl  graduate  sixteen  acres  of  the  campus  were  under  cultivation 
and  scholarship  girls  canned  1 , 1 00  gallons  of  fruits  and  vegetables. 
The  president  had  gone  into  the  country’s  service  in  a medical  laboratory 
at  the  base  hospital,  Camp  McArthur,  Texas.  Even  the  boys  of 
Irving  and  Florence  Wood  Home  had  marched  away,  and  for  a time  the 
halls  of  Wood  threatened  to  be  silent,  until  little  boys  came  in  to  take 
their  brothers’  places. 


[62] 


With  a great  past,  Bennett  Academy  has  a great  future  as  leader  in 
education  in  the  only  state  which  up  to  1918  has  had  no  compulsory 
educational  law.  In  the  present  dearth  of  public  school  teachers,  it 
stands  as  the  one  equipped  institute  for  training  the  young,  who  are  being 
fairly  pushed  into  its  halls  of  learning. 

Rebecca  McCleskey  Home — The  story  of  the  white  work  in 
Alabama  centers  around  the  growth  and  developments  of  Rebecca  Mc- 
Cleskey Home  for  white  girls,  at  Boaz.  It  started  with  a three-room 
cottage,  and  a two-room  school  house,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
pupils,  the  cornerstone  of  the  first  building  being  laid  in  1904.  In  1917 
the  results  were  an  eight-room  primary  school  building,  the  Ellen  Augusta 
Nottingham  Primary  Building,  a dormitory  for  boys  connected  with 
Snead  Seminary,  and  Rebecca  McCleskey  Home,  which  cares  for  one 
hundred  and  fifty  girls.  Aside  from  this  work  was  a development  at 
two  mission  points, — Cedartown,  Ga.,  and  Sayre,  Ala., — the  credit  for 
which  belongs  jointly  to  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  Training  School  and  Re- 
becca McCleskey  Home.  Besides  a destructive  fire,  the  usual  setback  of 
Homes  established  in  country  districts,  the  work  at  Boaz  was  done  under 
difficulties  peculiar  to  that  location.  It  took  time,  ingenuity  and  generous 
gifts  to  equip  the  Home.  There  were  no  public  facilities  in  the  town  so 
that  sanitary  sewerage  had  to  be  provided  at  an  unusual  expense.  It  was 
done  on  the  plan  recommended  by  the  United  States  Government.  For 
years  they  did  not  have  sufficient  bedding  and  silver.  It  was  difficult  to 
keep  plumbing  in  repair.  A steam  dryer,  a necessity  with  one  hundred 
and  fifty  girls,  was  long  needed,  and  not  until  1911  did  they  get  their 
first  refrigerator,  a gift  from  Upper  Iowa  Conference.  In  1910  East 
Ohio  Conference  Society  furnished  a beautiful  library  for  McCleskey  as 
a silver  anniversary  gift  in  honor  of  its  first  President,  Mrs.  Corey.  The 
fine  mission  furniture  not  only  made  the  room  lovely,  but  became  the 
model  for  furniture  made  by  students  in  the  Home. 

1 he  outdoor  work  essential  to  economic  living  included  care  of 
garden,  cows,  chickens,  a horse,  the  hauling  of  fuel,  boxes  and  baggage, 
and  the  plowing  of  corn  and  cotton  fields. 

With  a gift  of  $1,000  from  a non-Methodist  friend,  twenty  acres 
of  land  on  the  edge  of  the  town,  valued  at  $2,000,  was  purchased.  The 
farm  house  on  the  ground  was  rented  for  forty  dollars  a month  and  the 


[63] 


Home  family  raised  cotton  on  the  place.  The  rent  paid  the  interest  on 
the  remaining  $1,000  and  the  cotton  paid  on  the  principal.  As  they 
became  more  expert  in  handling  their  property,  the  farm  not  only  paid 
for  itself  and  furnished  the  table  of  the  Home,  but  gave  employment  to 
students  who  otherwise  could  not  have  attended  school. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  Home  a special  teacher  was  secured  for  the 
many  little  children  who  came  to  Boaz,  and  1913  saw  Ellen  Augusta 
Nottingham  primary  school  on  a site  purchased  by  friends  especially  for 
that  building,  caring  for  sixty  little  children.  Girls  from  McCleskey 
assisted  for  the  sake  of  the  training  they  thus  received.  It  is  the  intention 
of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  to  support  this  school  to  its 
fullest  capacity  until  such  a time  as  public  primary  schools  are  available 
to  these  children. 

The  new  dormitory  for  boys  in  connection  with  John  H.  Snead 
Seminary  was  built  in  1916  and  relieved  McCleskey  Home  of  the  care 
of  the  boys  and  gave  them  a fine  new  home. 

The  latest  improvement  was  a domestic  science  room.  A thorough 
course  in  domestic  science  is  now  offered  so  that  students  may  qualify 
for  teaching  in  the  public  schools,  as  required  by  the  state  of  Alabama. 

The  last  report  of  Rebecca  McCleskey  Home  tells  of  the  purchase  of 
a second-hand  automobile  which  teachers  and  pupils  use  in  going  to 
country  churches  round  about,  where  they  give  missionary,  temperance 
and  Red  Cross  programs  as  part  of  their  “bit”  in  the  great  world  work 
of  “after  the  war.” 

At  the  mining  town  of  Sayre,  Ala.,  settlement  work  was  done  by 
students  from  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  schools.  In  1910a 
Rebecca  McCleskey  girl, — a graduate  of  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  Training 
School, — conducted  day  and  night  schools,  organized  a boys’  club  with 
short  military  drill,  taught  lessons  leading  to  simple  carpentry,  and  cook- 
ing and  sewing  classes,  visited  the  sick,  and  “even  buried  the  dead.”  She 
also  had  a large  Sunday-school.  The  settlement  was  supported  by  mine 
owners  and  teachers  were  provided  by  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society.  In  1911  the  mines  were  closed  and  the  pupils  sent  to  Boaz. 
There  is  a possibility  that  this  work,  started  so  well,  will  be  reopened  soon. 

Deborah  McCarty  Settlement — The  second  settlement  con- 
ducted by  Boaz  girls  has  made  a most  remarkable  record.  It  is  a prime 


[64] 


example  of  the  difficulties  under  which  the  Society’s  initial  work  is  often 
carried  on.  It  also  answers  the  question  very  forcibly,  “Can  the  church 
succeed  in  settlement  work?’’  Cedartown,  Ga.,  was  a cotton  mill  settle- 
ment. Conditions  were  so  bad  that  the  mills  were  operating  on  short 
time,  merely  to  keep  the  five  thousand  people  from  starvation.  The  girls 
opened  a school  in  an  abandoned  mill  building  in  1910.  The  chimney 
was  unsafe  and  the  roof  leaked  so  badly  that  the  building  was  useful  only 
in  fair  weather.  In  spite  of  these  adverse  circumstances  they  had  a large 
Sunday-school,  a day  and  night  school,  and  went  from  house  to  house 
teaching  housekeeping  and  domestic  science.  A conditional  appropriation 
was  made  for  a building,  but  the  building  did  not  materialize  until  1913. 
These  two  girls  were  working  on  the  munificent  joint  sum  of  twenty  dollars 
a month.  Of  course,  they  could  not  establish  a substantial  Home  on 
such  a meagre  wage.  Accounts  of  the  manner  in  which  these  specially 
trained  Christian  girls  were  forced  to  exist  were  both  heart-rending  and 
accusing,  and  a caustic  warning  of  the  waste  of  the  precious,  finely 
wrought  material  which  the  Society  had  produced  through  years  of  sacri- 
fice, hard  work  and  great  expenditure  of  money. 

The  girls  had  no  furniture.  They  borrowed  a bed  of  one  of  the 
neighbors  and  bedding  was  spared  from  the  frugal  supply  at  McCleskey. 
Besides  the  bed,  they  finally  got  hold  of  a refrigerator,  a fireless  cooker 
and  an  organ.  A Cedartown  merchant  gave  them  a good  kitchen  range, 
but  they  had  no  dining  table.  The  records  finally  report  that  “a  dining 
table  was  also  loaned,  but  alas ! by  a widower,  and  he  now  contemplates 
marrying  again.’’ 

A third  girl  from  Boaz,  undaunted  by  the  hardships  that  attended 
the  work  at  Cedartown,  joined  the  others  and  the  work  grew,  along  with 
money  for  a settlement  building. 

This  settlement  building  at  Cedartown,  Ga.,  is  a splendid  endorse- 
ment of  the  brave  girls  who  so  faithfully,  under  such  distressing  condi- 
tions, had  brought  the  work  up  to  such  a standard  for  excellence.  It  has 
an  auditorium  seating  one  hundred  and  fifty,  and  serving  as  dining  room 
during  the  week  and  as  Sunday-school  and  service  room  on  Sunday.  It 
has  primary  and  kindergarten  rooms  and  kitchen  room.  Upstairs  are 
the  rest  and  living  rooms  of  the  missionaries  and  a fine  sleeping  porch. 


[65] 


School  was  started  in  the  new  building  with  one  hundred  children  in 
the  day  school,  twenty  to  thirty  in  the  kindergarten,  and  night  classes, 
sewing  class  and  mothers’  meetings.  More  teachers  were  needed  and  a 
fourth  girl  joined  the  group  of  workers.  The  basement  was  finished  to 
relieve  the  congestion,  but  soon  the  whole  building  was  overcrowded.  A 
small  dispensary  was  asked  for  in  1915,  and  the  Ernest  Cleveland 
Memorial  Fund  was  started  toward  establishing  it.  Visiting  nurses  were 
needed  and  a kindergarten  teacher  was  asked  for.  Child  labor  has  been 
a problem  in  this  mill  town. 

In  1918  the  cotton  mills  at  Cedartown  were  enlarged.  The  popula- 
tion grew  and  demands  upon  the  settlement  school  were  increased.  The 
school  came  into  the  limelight  through  its  “clean-up”  campaign.  In  1918 
the  teachers  planned  “clean-up”  week.  The  boy  who  collected  the  most 
tin  cans  within  the  village  was  to  have  half  a dollar.  The  second  best 
would  receive  a quarter.  The  mill  owners  then  offered  a dime  for  every 
hundred  tin  cans  collected  within  the  village.  To  the  surprise  of  the 
grown  folks  the  winner  of  the  half  dollar  collected  1,700  cans;  two 
other  boys  followed  closely  and  secured  the  quarter,  and  the  total  number 
of  cans  rounded  up  for  the  mill  owners  was  1 0,5  1 7. 

COMMUNITY  Schools — The  Community  Schools  of  North  Caro- 
lina originated  in  the  desire  of  the  ministers  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Conference 
to  have  an  Industrial  Home  and  school  for  girls  in  that  isolated  mountain 
region  under  their  care.  They  would  not  agree  on  the  location,  however, 
so  the  General  Secretary  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  sug- 
gested that  if  they  would  select  six  points  where  there  was  urgent  need 
for  a school  and  be  responsible  for  employing  a teacher  and  for  keeping 
the  school  open  at  each  point  for  eight  months  in  the  year,  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  would  pay  one  hundred  dollars  a year  toward 
the  salary  of  two  hundred  dollars  for  each  teacher.  That  the  two  hun- 
dred dollars  was  expected  to  secure  a teacher  of  superior  quality  can  be 
seen  by  the  qualifications  asked  for.  She  should  have  a teacher’s  certifi- 
cate from  the  school  authorities,  should  be  a Methodist  with  missionary 
spirit,  must  teach  in  the  Sunday-school,  help  sustain  the  Epworth  League, 
and  if  possible  play  the  organ  and  lead  in  singing.  These  very  successful 
schools  were  begun  in  1 903  and  were  named  Community  Schools  by  the 
presiding  elders  and  preachers  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Conference. 


[66] 


The  teachers  were  excellent, — but  the  same  thing  could  not  be  said 
of  the  schools.  The  buildings  were  very  poor.  Sometimes  a church  was 
used,  sometimes  they  had  a room  with  no  benches  to  sit  on  and  no  desks 
to  write  on.  They  were  without  maps,  blackboards,  reference  books  or 
other  needed  appliances.  Poorly  housed  as  they  were,  the  schools  were 
well  attended.  The  people  made  strenuous  sacrifices  to  gain  an  education ; 
the  pupils  walked  great  distances  over  mountain  paths.  Teachers,  too, 
had  to  be  strong  and  brave  to  endure  the  hardships  of  living  in  the  crude 
homes  of  the  mountain  people.  As  has  been  pointed  out,  they  were  not 
like  the  comfortable  Industrial  Homes  of  the  Society. 

The  original  number  of  schools  provided  for  was  six, — two  in  each 
Conference  District.  In  three  years  these  schools  were  an  important 
factor,  and  it  was  felt  that  they  had  solved  the  problem  of  education  in 
sparsely  settled  regions  and  poor  neighborhoods  of  the  Southern  high- 
lands, and  that  fifty  of  such  schools  were  none  too  many. 

Each  year  the  schools  were  supported  with  a view  to  the  possibility 
that  some  one  point  would  be  found  to  be  the  natural  educational  centre, 
where  a permanent  industrial  school  could  be  located.  The  little  schools 
would  then  become  feeders  until  public  schools  should  be  established. 
Where  public  schools  were  located  for  four  months  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society  teacher  would  teach  in  that  school  for  the  term,  and 
then  continue  the  school  through  the  remaining  weeks  of  the  eight  months. 

By  1908,  seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  pupils  were  enrolled  from 
the  white  people  of  Western  North  Carolina.  One  school  fell  by  the 
wayside,  leaving  five,  at  Tereseta,  Stroud  Chapel,  Marion,  Etowah  Vesta 
and  Craggy  respectively.  In  1910,  Tereseta  had  a separate  school 
building;  the  others  were  in  churches.  One  year  later  a school  house  was 
put  up  at  Marion  for  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  pupils,  and  a year  later 
it  was  self-supporting.  Two  new  schools  were  opened,  one  at  Lansing 
and  one  at  Marshallberg. 

Marshallberg,  a coast  mission  school,  was  sustained  with  funds 
diverted  from  Marion,  which  became  self-supporting  in  1912.  Traphill 
and  Palestine  completed  the  list.  Just  how  helpless  they  were  without 
doctors  and  how  fatalistic  they  were  in  their  attitude  toward  disease  can 
be  seen  in  the  report  of  an  epidemic  of  measles  in  one  school.  The  school 


[67] 


had  been  closed:  “Many  still  had  measles  and  there  were  lots  yet  to  get 
them.”  Many  and  persistent  were  the  calls  for  these  schools.  And  for 
the  small  outlay  they  produced  an  inestimable  amount  of  good,  but 
changes  came  and  at  present  there  are  no  Community  Schools  under  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society. 

Ebenezer  Mitchell  Home — Ebenezer  Mitchell  Home  was  first 
located  away  out  in  the  woods  of  North  Carolina,  six  miles  from  Lenoir, 
at  Cedar  Valley.  It  was  also  four  miles  from  the  railroad  station  of 
Hudson,  six  miles  from  the  post-office  and  one-half  mile  from  the  high- 
way. Into  this  loneliness  and  isolation  the  missionaries  of  the  Woman’s 
• Home  Missionary  Society  carried  their  message  of  Christian  love  and 
healthful  living. 

The  school  is  said  to  have  been  founded  in  1 885  by  a gift  of  property 
to  the  Society.  It  consisted  of  a school  building,  a home  and  thirty  acres 
of  land.  In  1901  a Mrs.  Mitchell,  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  gave  $1,000 
toward  the  Home  and  named  it  after  her  son.  In  1904  a church  was 
organized  in  the  neighborhood  with  forty  members,  and  the  work  of  Home 
and  school  was  well  under  way.  Fire  early  threatened,  the  forest  fires 
of  1906  coming  so  near  that  trees  on  the  property  of  the  Home  were 
scorched.  The  quiet  place  became  a beehive  in  the  next  two  summers. 
A saw-mill  was  running  all  day  long  cutting  up  the  fire-scorched  trees. 
The  mountain  spring  was  curbed.  The  spring  gave  out  and  a well  had 
to  be  dug.  The  cornfield  was  cleared  of  rocks,  and  the  rocks  used  to  fill 
in  the  foundation  of  the  Cottage. 

A second  fire  in  1 908  destroyed  Mitchell  Home.  Thirty-five  stu- 
dents and  two  teachers  were  turned  out  in  their  night  clothes.  The  near- 
est neighbors  were  a mile  away  through  trackless  woods.  They  took  shel- 
ter in  the  little  school  house  that  stood  untouched  near  by.  In  the  morning 
kind  friends  at  Lenoir  took  them  in. 

Mitchell  Home  was  then  moved  to  Meisenheimer,  N.  C.,  near  Salis- 
bury,— the  centre  of  the  state,— with  railroad  facilities.  The  railroad 
company  moved  their  freight  free  of  charge  and  brought  them  a carload 
of  coal  from  Tennessee.  The  Home  was  welcomed  at  Meisenheimer  and 
the  people  rejoiced  in  the  work  which  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  was  doing,  and  promised  to  help  in  every  way.  Then  Mitchell 
Home  grew  until  a boys’  dormitory  was  built  in  1913.  The  school 


[68] 


work  was  graded  from  primary  to  high  school  grade.  Special  effort  was 
made  to  secure  excellent  teachers. 

In  1915  fire  once  more  came  to  Mitchell  Home.  The  main  building, 
with  supplies  and  equipment,  was  destroyed.  The  teachers  nobly  pulled 
the  school  together  and  in  a short  time  school  work  was  resumed,  but  only 
eight  students  could  be  cared  for  in  the  Home.  Students  went  to  college 
and  became  ministers  and  leaders  in  spite  of  the  material  handicaps  that 
Mitchell  had  suffered. 

In  1 9 1 6 an  annex  was  built  to  the  building  untouched  by  fire,  so  that 
the  work  could  be  made  reasonably  efficient  until  the  time  should  come 
to  build  a new  building. 

Student  government  was  established  at  Mitchell  in  1917,  and  a year 
later  the  Home  school  was  living  in  the  great  war.  It  had  nineteen  stars 
on  its  service  flag,  while  the  girls  helped  in  Red  Cross  work. 

OLIVE  Hill — In  1911  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
voted  to  open  work  in  Kentucky  simultaneously  at  Harlan  and  Olive  Hill. 
The  citizens  of  Harlan  gave  lots  valued  at  $4,500  as  a site  for  a school 
building.  This  was  a small  mountain  town  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the 
state  on  the  Louisville  & Nashville  Railroad.  Erie  Conference  pledged 
$2,000  for  the  Home,  and  with  gifts  amounting  to  $1,000,  the  Society 
purchased  a house  on  lots  adjoining  those  given  for  the  school  house. 
Work  began  with  the  opening  of  a kindergarten.  Twelve  girls  were  in 
the  Home  during  1913,  and  others  wanted  to  enter,  but  there  was  no 
room.  Cooking  and  sewing  classes  were  organized  and  a school  building 
was  rented  until  the  new  Aiken  Hall  could  be  built.  In  1 9 1 4 it  was 
decided  that  Harlan  belonged  to  a sister  church  as  a field  of  work, 
and  so  the  work  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  was  cen- 
tered at  Olive  Hill.  Erie  Home  at  Harlan  was  sold  and  the  proceeds 
invested  in  an  Industrial  Home  for  Olive  Hill.  The  name  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  new  Home,  as  well  as  the  names  on  rooms,  doors  and 
windows. 

Olive  Hill  is  located  in  Northeast  Kentucky  on  the  Chesapeake  & 
Ohio  Railroad.  The  property,  a picturesque  site  of  six  acres,  was 
donated  by  a citizen  and  more  ground  was  promised  by  others.  The 
Fire  Brick  Company  promised  to  donate  brick  for  a $1,500  school 


[69] 


building  and  to  provide  a heating  and  lighting  plant.  The  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  was  to  furnish  the  building  and  maintain  the 
school.  Such  a building  would  require  $2,000  to  furnish  and  equip  it. 

The  breaking  of  ground  for  the  building  was  a great  occasion  and  a 
day  of  celebration  by  the  citizens  of  Olive  Hill.  Donations  came  in, 
too.  A gentleman  from  Ohio  donated  the  roof  for  the  building.  An 
old  man  known  as  ‘'Grandfather  Thomas,”  who  could  neither  read  nor 
write,  gave  a hundred  dollars  for  the  school,  saying  that  he  wanted  his 
grandchildren  to  learn  to  read  and  write.  School  opened  with  sixty 
kindergarten  children  and  a primary  grade  in  the  classroom  of  the  Metho- 
dist Church.  During  the  year  a house  was  placed  at  the  Society’s 
disposal  by  interested  friends  in  Olive  Hill. 

Aiken  Hall  was  finished  in  the  latter  months  of  1914,  the  dormitory 
accommodating  one  hundred  girls.  Thus  Olive  Hill  was  equipped  with 
two  splendid  training  plants,  Erie  Home  and  Aiken  Hall.  The  day 
school  soon  reached  one  hundred  enrollment,  while  sewing  and  cooking 
classes  did  a fine  work.  In  1917,  Erie  Home  was  remodeled  so  that  it 
might  conform  more  nearly  to  a Model  Home. 

In  1918  small-pox  broke  out  in  town  and  the  teachers  had  a serious 
time  caring  for  the  arms  of  little  children  who  had  been  vaccinated,  and 
even  more  serious  times  with  parents  who  were  opposed  to  vaccination. 
All  the  girls  in  the  school  became  Red  Cross  members. 

In  spite  of  difficulties  which  the  last  two  years  have  laid  upon  schools 
everywhere,  the  school  and  Home  at  Olive  Hill,  Kentucky,  has  grown  in 
size,  has  made  progress  and  shows  excellent  results. 


[70] 


Deaconess  and  Hospital  Work 


Deaconess  and.  Hospital  Work 


Name 

Location 

Lucy  Webb  Hayes  National  Training-School 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Kansas  City  National  Training-School 

Kansas  City,  Mo. 

McCrum  Slavonic  National  Training-School 

Uniontown,  Penn. 

San  Francisco  National  Training-School 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 

Folts  Institute 

Herkimer,  N.  Y. 

Iowa  Bible  School 

Des  Moines,  Iowa 

Training  School  for  Negro  Deaconesses 

Sibley  Hospital 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Graham  Protestant  Hospital 

Keokuk,  Iowa 

Ellen  A.  Burge  Deaconess  Hospital 

Springfield,  Mo. 

Tuberculosis  Hospital 

Albuquerque,  N.  Mex. 

Deaconess  Hospital 

Rapid  City,  S.  Dak. 

Holden  Hospital 

Carbondale,  111. 

Methodist  Deaconess  Hospital 

Indianapolis,  Ind. 

Methodist  Hospital 

Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

Methodist  Deaconess  Hospital 

Rapid  City,  S.  Dak. 

Brewster  Hospital 

Jacksonville,  Fla. 

Beth-el  Hospital 

Colorado  Springs,  Col. 

[72] 


V 


DEACONESS  AND  HOSPITAL  WORK 

* * * 

THE  Bureau  of  Local  Work  in  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  had  an  existence  of  fourteen  years,  between  1 885  and  1 899. 
The  very  first  evidence  of  a need  for  home  missionary  work  was  in  the 
crowded  slums  of  the  nation’s  cities,  where  thousands  of  ignorant,  poor 
people  were  struggling  for  a precarious  existence,  living  in  abominable 
tenements,  unclean,  neglected,  unventilated,  and  yielding  thereby  lives 
degraded  and  maimed  with  filth,  disease  and  vice.  Very  early,  earnest 
workers  took  up  the  task  of  city  mission  work  in  New  Orleans  in  the 
French  and  Italian  quarters  of  the  city.  From  that  time  until  today  the 
Woman’s  Flome  Missionary  Society  has  carried  on  a royal  battle  with 
the  emissaries  of  sin  in  many  of  the  great  cities  of  the  land.  During  the 
incumbency  of  the  Bureau  of  Local  Work,  the  duty  laid  upon  it  was  to 
encourage  the  employment  of  city  missionaries  and  so  create  interest  in 
local  auxiliaries  that  these  auxiliaries  would  make  an  active,  personal 
effort  to  reach  non-Christian  people  near  at  hand.  The  money  for  this 
work  was  to  be  raised  by  special  funds  and  under  no  circumstances  was 
it  to  be  taken  from  the  general  treasury.  The  financial  expenditure  was 
to  be  reported  by  voucher  and  credit  received  for  it  as  for  cash. 

In  1 899  the  Bureau  of  Local  Work  had  fulfilled  its  mission  and  its 
work  was  dissolved  into  that  of  the  Deaconess  Bureau.  It  had  not  only 
paved  the  way  for  the  introduction  of  deaconess  work  in  the  church  but 
during  the  early  years,  when  sporadic  and  irregular  enterprises  were  crys- 
talizing  into  well-defined  “city  missions,”  “Industrial  Homes,”  and  dea- 
coness Homes,”  it  had  also  unconsciously  evolved  the  workers.  Along 
with  this  providential  leading  of  the  forces  toward  the  great  movement 
was  the  conscious  planning  of  the  leaders  for  the  new  phase  of  work. 

In  1886,  Miss  Jane  Bancroft,  Dean  of  the  Woman’s  College  of 
Northwestern  University,  went  to  Europe  for  two  years  to  study  “social 
ethics  and  methods  employed  by  various  humanitarian  and  evangelical 


[73] 


societies  for  the  uplift  of  neglected  classes.”  She  saw  the  Deaconess 
movement  in  Germany,  England,  Switzerland  and  France,  and  wrote 
about  it  to  Mrs.  Rust.  Mrs.  Rust  directed  Miss  Bancroft  to  make  a 
thorough  study  of  the  deaconess  movement  abroad  so  as  to  be  ready  to 
lead  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  along  those  lines  on  her 
return.  Miss  Bancroft  returned  to  America  in  1 888.  The  time  was 
propitious  for  the  presentation  of  the  subject.  The  work  of  local  women 
had  tempered  the  minds  of  auxiliaries  throughout  the  Society.  Bishop 
Thoburn  had  urged  this  method  of  mission  work  before  the  East  Ohio 
Conference.  In  1887  a memorial  from  Rock  River  Conference  had 
been  prepared  for  General  Conference  on  this  subject  and  in  1 888 
General  Conference  legislation  had  provided  for  the  office  of  deaconess. 
Nine  young  women  of  the  Chicago  Training  School  announced  them- 
selves as  ready  for  this  specific  service. 

The  program  of  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Society  at  Boston, 
October,  1 888,  featured  deaconess  work.  Both  the  Secretary,  Mrs. 
Rust,  and  Miss  Bancroft  urged  the  special  attention  of  the  women  of  the 
church  to  the  need  of  this  work.  Mrs.  Rust  reported  the  duties  of  the 
office  of  deaconess,  as  defined  by  General  Conference,  to  be  “to  minister 
to  the  poor,  visit  the  sick,  pray  for  the  dying,  care  for  the  orphans,  seek 
the  wandering,  comfort  the  sorrowing,  save  the  sinning,  and  relinquish- 
ing wholly  all  other  pursuits  to  devote  themselves  in  a general  way  to 
such  form  of  Christian  labor  as  may  be  suited  to  their  abilities.”  The 
disciplinary  regulation  for  the  work  of  deaconess  provided  also  that  “the 
women  who  are  employed  within  any  Conference  shall  be  under  the  care 
of  a committee,  of  whom  one-third  at  least  are  to  be  women.”  The  first 
contribution  to  deaconess  work  under  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  v/as  one  hundred  dollars  made  by  Capt.  Thomas  of  Boston  at 
the  close  of  Miss  Bancroft’s  address  to  the  convention.  The  Society 
appointed  a Committee  on  Deaconess  Work  with  Miss  Jane  Bancroft 
as  chairman. 

The  whole  history  of  the  deaconess  work  in  the  Society  is  that  of  an 
evolution.  There  were  no  precedents  to  go  by,  but  the  women  had  great 
faith.  Miss  Bancroft  devoted  herself  to  the  work,  speaking  at  conven- 
tions and  auxiliaries,  and  helping  to  establish  Deaconess  Homes  where - 
ever  there  was  an  opening.  After  the  appointment  of  a committee  on 


[74] 


Deaconess  Work,  the  first  plea  was  made  in  New  York  City,  the  second 
in  Philadelphia,  where  the  Philadelphia  Conference  turned  over  the  con- 
sideration of  the  work  to  the  Woman’s  Heme  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Conference,  and  the  third  at  Baltimore,  where  a committee  was  appointed 
to  work  with  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  in  that  city. 

In  1 889  the  Committee  on  Deaconess  Work  was  established  as  a 
Bureau  and  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  passed  the  famous 
resolution  declaring  the  Society  ready  6 ‘to  assume  the  care  of  deaconess 
homes  wherever  such  homes  shall  be  entrusted  to  it,  subject  to  the  limita- 
tions of  the  discipline  and  so  far  as  financial  considerations  will  permit.” 
At  the  end  of  1 890  six  deaconess  homes  were  allied  with  the  Society, — 
Detroit,  Buffalo,  Philadelphia,  Washington,  D.  C.,  Pittsburgh  and 
Syracuse.  To  Detroit  belongs  the  honor  of  having  the  first  deaconess 
home.  Today  nearly  one-half  of  the  work  of  the  Society  is  embraced  in 
this  Bureau  and  forty-five  per  cent,  of  all  deaconess  homes  in  English- 
speaking  Methodism  are  directly  under  its  supervision. 

This  work  so  auspiciously  begun  has  had  not  only  a miraculous 
growth,  but  a dramatic  one  as  well.  When  a wealthy  man  in  the 
United  States  gives  a part  of  his  money  for  some  philanthropic  purpose, 
or  to  an  institution  of  learning,  the  newspapers  herald  the  gift  as  a highly 
important  bit  of  news.  The  fact  that  the  Woman’s  Plome  Missionary 
Society,  a woman’s  organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
has  refused  the  gift  of  seven  furnished  and  equipped  hospitals,  five  in 
one  year,  would  be  considered  far  more  striking  by  them  did  they  but 
know  of  it.  Yet  such  was  the  case.  The  Society  has  not  been  able 
to  take  over  fast  enough  the  gifts  laid  in  its  hands,  for  lack  of  trained 
workers!  Homes,  Training  School  buildings.  Hospitals,  Rest  Homes, 
Dispensaries  and  Industrial  Settlements,  have  been  turned  over  to  the 
care  of  the  Deaconess  Department  in  rapid  succession.  The  more 
conspicuous  does  this  acquiring  of  wealth  and  power  for  use  in  God’s 
work  appear  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  workers  have  taken  upon 
themselves  the  sacrificial  living  upon  a small  allowance  with  no  other 
profession  or  calling,  and  with  provision  for  their  earthly  life  rested 
entirely  in  the  promised  support  of  the  Society  through  its  Deaconess 
Department. 

The  administrative  work  of  the  Deaconess  Department  seems  some- 


[75] 


what  intricate  and  involved  upon  first  examination.  Further  study  will 
reveal  the  fact,  however,  that  the  women  developed  a wonderful  organi- 
zation, splendidly  arranged  to  care  for  a very  broad  and  highly  special- 
ized work.  The  work  could  not  now  be  left  to  Miss  Bancroft  alone. 
An  assistant  secretary  was  secured,  then  a Deaconess  Bureau  was  organ- 
ized consisting  of  secretary,  assistant  secretary,  and  an  executive  com- 
mittee, an  advisory  council  and  two  members  from  the  Board  of  Manage- 
ment of  each  Deaconess  Home  affiliated  with  the  Society.  Complete 
quarterly  reports  were  sent  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Bureau  and  kept  on 
file.  Financial  reports  were  made  at  the  end  of  the  year.  Connectional 
supervision  was  maintained  by  a system)  of  transfers  from  Home  to  Home 
and  by  the  appointment  of  graduates  from  the  National  Training  Schools 
to  the  several  Homes. 

In  1 904  the  Deaconess  Bureau  was  subdivided  into  five  Bureaus  and 
a Standing  Committee  for  National  Training  Schools:  ( 1 ) The  Eastern 
Deaconess  Bureau,  (2)  The  Central  Deaconess  Bureau,  (3)  The 
Western  Deaconess  Bureau,  (4)  The  Utah  Deaconess  Bureau,  (5) 
The  Pacific  Coast  Deaconess  Bureau.  A Negro  Deaconess  Bureau  was 
provided  for  with  a secretary  at  Cincinnati. 

Three  branches  of  deaconess  work  had  been  recognized  in  the  church 
at  large:  1 . That  under  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society,  2.  That 
under  control  of  a German  Central  Board,  and  3.  The  newly  organized 
Methodist  Deaconess  Association.  To  harmonize  and  unite  more  closely 
all  branches  of  deaconess  work,  General  Conference  in  1908  created  a 
General  Deaconess  Board  of  eleven  members;  the  Board  to  consist  of 
two  general  superintendents  designated  by  the  Board  of  Bishops,  three 
members  at  large  and  two  from  each  form  of  Deaconess  administra- 
tion. This  General  Board  was  to  meet  annually  to  discuss  and  adjust 
questions  relating  to  deaconess  work.  It  was  to  have  general  supervision 
of  all  deaconess  work  throughout  the  church,  must  approve  general  rules 
for  the  government  of  Deaconess  Homes  and  other  deaconess  institutions 
and  rules  for  governing  all  deaconesses  however  employed.  The  Gen- 
eral Deaconess  Board  was  to  approve  for  adoption  a distinctive  garb  to 
be  worn  by  all  deaconesses  throughout  the  church  for  their  designation 
and  for  the  protection  of  themselves  and  the  office,  and  a distinctive  garb 
for  probationers  as  well.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  Board  to  secure  legal 


[76] 


protection  for  this  garb.  The  church  discipline  states  “that  all  deacon- 
esses who  are  members  of  the  church  in  America  are  and  always  have 
been  deaconesses  of  the  church”  and  are  working  and  have  worked  on 
the  “church  plan”  of  deaconess  work. 

The  distinctive  features  of  the  deaconess  work  developed  by  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  are  as  follows: 

1 . Deaconess  Homes  located  in  cities  may  have  one-half  the  dues 
of  the  auxiliaries  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  in  the 
cities  where  the  Homes  are  located. 

2.  The  deaconesses  of  the  Society  are  greatly  aided  by  the  officials 
of  the  Deaconess  Department.  The  officers  act  as  intermediaries  between 
deaconesses  and  Conference  Deaconess  Boards  and  aid  the  members  of 
the  Boards  by  bringing  deaconess  graduates  to  their  notice.  Thus  valu- 
able women  trained  along  specific  lines  are  placed  in  proper  spheres 
of  work. 

3.  A permanent  Deaconess  Fund  has  been  established  to  aid  any 
deaconess  in  failing  health  to  regain  her  strength  and  return  to  her  work 
of  usefulness,  provided  she  has  served  the  Society  eight  consecutive  years. 
There  have  been  individual  cases  where  the  requirement  of  eight  years’ 
service  has  been  waived.  This  fund  also  cares  for  those  permanently 
incapacitated. 

The  action  of  the  General  Conference  made  no  certain  division  of 
deaconess  boundaries,  hence  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  was 
free  to  go  throughout  the  United  States  unless  the  new  General  Deaconess 
Board  should  prohibit  such  a move.  So  it  was  recommended  in  1912 
that  three  new  deaconess  Bureaus  should  be  created  and  a rearrangement 
of  the  boundaries  of  the  existing  Bureaus  should  be  made.  In  1913  the 
Board  of  Trustees  reported  this  action  taken  on  deaconess  work:  “The 
Deaconess  Department  shall  consist  of  ten  bureaus  to  be  known  as  ( 1 ) 
The  Bureau  for  National  Training  Schools,  (2)  The  Bureau  for  Hos- 
pitals, (3)  The  New  England  Bureau,  (4)  The  Eastern  Bureau,  (5) 
The  Central  Bureau,  (6)  The  Northern  Bureau,  (7)  The  Northwestern 
Bureau,  (8)  The  Pacific  Bureau,  (9)  The  Negro  Bureau,  and  (10) 
A Standing  Committee  for  the  Permanent  Deaconess  Fund.  The  De- 
partment was  placed  under  the  supervision  of  a General  Secretary,  aided 
by  an  Executive  Committee  composed  of  the  secretaries  of  the  respective 


[77] 


bureaus,  the  treasurer  of  the  Permanent  Deaconess  F und,  and  two  mem* 
bers  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  The  duties  of  the  supervising  personnel 
were  clearly  defined.  It  differed  from  the  other  bureau  administrations. 
Other  bureaus  were  an  entity  and  each  Bureau  Secretary  was  responsible 
for  the  entire  field  and  reported  to  the  General  Society,  that  the  Society 
might  hold  an  unbroken  field.  In  deaconess  work  4 ‘these  bureaus  could 
not  be  separated  because  of  the  interlacing  of  common  dependence.’* 
This  placing  of  the  administration  of  the  Department  under  a central  office 
was  a necessity  due  to  the  magnitude  of  the  deaconess  work. 

The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  began  training  workers 
before  the  Deaconess  Bureau  as  such  was  thought  of,  and  contributed 
to  the  first  training  school  at  Chicago  in  October,  1 884.  The  founding 
of  a National  Training  School  quickly  followed  the  beginnings  of  the 
bureau.  Three  others  were  established  during  the  years  under  the  Dea- 
coness Department.  The  four  training  schools  founded  by  the  National 
Society  are  the  Lucy  Webb  Hayes,  at  Washington,  D.  C. ; Kansas  City, 
at  Kansas  City,  Mo.;  San  Francisco,  at  San  Francisco,  Cal.;  and  Mc- 
Crum  Training  School  for  Slavonic  girls  at  Uniontown,  Pa.  Three 
others  became  national  schools  later, — Folts  Mission  Institute,  Iowa  Bible 
Training  School,  and  the  Training  School  for  Negro  Girls. 

The  National  Training  Schools  have  been  supported  by  funds  from 
the  general  treasury  and  their  trained  workers  have  been  appointed  to 
their  places  by  the  General  Society.  They  were  placed  “under  the 
administration  of  a standing  committee  of  the  Deaconess  Department.’’ 
In  1912  this  committee  became  a Bureau  for  National  Training  Schools 
under  the  Deaconess  Department.  Finally,  in  1917,  all  Training 
Schools,  both  National  and  Conference,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Society, 
were  placed  under  a Bureau  of  Training  Schools  and  were  no  more  under 
the  Deaconess  Department. 

National  Training  Schools — These  exist  to  provide  trained 
workers,  both  missionaries  and  deaconesses,  for  the  institutions  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  The  National  Society  makes 
special  appropriation  for  the  support  of  these  schools,  selects  their  presi- 
dent, or  superintendent,  and  teachers ; also  stations  their  graduates  in  the 
respective  fields  of  labor.  These  schools  rose  in  such  a manner  that  they 
necessarily  were  conducted  on  the  plan  of  the  local  Deaconess  Home  and 


[78] 


were  governed  by  the  ordinary  rules  of  the  local  Home.  The  growth  of 
the  institutions  made  changes  inevitable.  It  was  deemed  important  in 
1902  that  ail  the  National  Training  Schools  should  be  under  one  and 
the  same  kind  of  government,  since  their  interests  were  all  national,  and 
not  local.  It  was  desirable  to  have  financial  interests  cared  for  in  the 
same  way,  so  that  results  could  be  carefully  studied  and  compared,  and 
finally,  that  courses  of  study  might  provide  the  same  development. 

The  following  measures  were  adopted  as  a policy  toward  the  work: 

1.  Separation  of  local  deaconess  work  from  the  work  of  the  National 
Training  School.  2.  Money  furnished  by  the  National  Society  to  be 
kept  distinct  from  money  used  for  local  deaconess  work.  3.  Its  president 
should  administer  the  funds  of  a National  Training  School  and  report 
to  the  secretary  of  the  Deaconess  Department  and  to  the  national  treas- 
urer, since  all  Conferences  support  the  Training  School. 

The  form  of  government  was  to  be  analogous  to  that  of  a college, 
with:  1.  Property-holding  Trustees  (the  laws  of  nearly  every  state  for- 
bid an  outside  corporation  to  hold  real  estate  except  through  trustees). 

2,  A local  Executive  Committee  of  which  the  secretary  of  the  Deaconess 
Bureau,  Field  Secretary  and  President  of  the  school  are  ex-officio  mem- 
bers, three  members  are  chosen  by  the  National  Board  of  Trustees, 
non-residents  of  the  city  where  the  school  is  located,  and  fifteen  resident 
members  of  such  city,  five  of  whom  are  men.  3.  The  report  from  this 
local  executive  committee  shall  be  made  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
Society,  who  have  the  decisive  voice  in  the  general  government  of  the 
schools. 

Lucy  Webb  Hayes  National  Training  School — In  1890 
the  Deaconess  Bureau  had  determined  upon  establishing  a National 
Training  School  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  as  a memorial  to  the  Society’s 
first  president,  Mrs.  Lucy  Webb  Hayes,  and  made  a plea  for  the  work 
at  the  annual  meeting.  Miss  Jane  Bancroft  also  visited  Washington, 
D.  C.,  during  1899-90  to  present  the  subject  in  the  leading  churches. 
The  rental  of  a house  on  F Street,  N.  E.,  was  offered  by  a Mrs.  Susan 
J.  Wheeler  for  the  beginning  of  the  work,  and  it  was  formally  opened 
as  a Deaconess  Home,  May  15,  1890.  During  the  year  Mr.  Ephraim 
Nash  offered  his  residence  in  Washington  to  the  Society  for  the  Training 
School  already  planned  as  a memorial  to  Mrs.  Hayes.  It  was  a beauti- 


[79] 


fill  property  at  Pierce  and  North  Capital  Streets  with  a $5,000  mort- 
gage, which  mortgage  was  lifted  by  the  Society  in  exchange  for  the  gift. 
The  Deaconess  Home  already  started  became  part  of  the  National  Train- 
ing School  until  1903,  when  the  local  and  national  work  were  wisely 
separated.  The  local  interests  were  placed  under  the  care  of  a committee 
of  fifteen,  five  men  and  ten  women.  The  Washington  people  planned 
to  develop  some  special  field.  In  October,  1891,  the  Lucy  Webb  Hayes 
National  Training  School  was  opened  and  became  headquarters  for  the 
deaconess  work  at  Washington. 

The  donation  of  a hospital  building  soon  followed,  in  1 894,  the  gift 
of  Mr.  W.  J.  Sibley  as  a memorial  for  his  deceased  wife.  That  same 
year  the  institution  was  chartered  by  Act  of  Congress  and  the  various 
departments,  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  Training  School,  and  Sibley  Hospital, 
forming  one  corporation,  were  unified  under  one  administration.  As  the 
years  passed  the  work  grew  and  the  National  Training  School  was 
expanded  beyond  the  most  ambitious  of  the  Society’s  dreams.  Sibley 
Hospital  was  enlarged  and  a fine  new  plant  for  the  Training  School 
was  built  in  the  same  block  and  called  Rust  Hall.  It  was  the  largest 
edifice  yet  erected  by  the  women  of  Methodism  and  was  a suitable  monu- 
ment for  a great  society  to  erect  to  its  principal  founder.  The  original 
Training  School  building,  “Nash  Hall,”  was  used  as  an  annex  to  Sibley, 
which  in  four  years  had  doubled  its  original  size,  paid  its  own  expenses 
for  the  year  1 903,  and  had  realized  a sum  sufficient  to  meet  the  cost  of 
important  improvements.  The  property  was  added  to  by  the  purchase 
of  houses  on  North  Capitol  Street,  standing  between  the  arms  of  the 
institution,  giving  the  Society  the  entire  frontage  on  North  Capitol  Street 
from  Pierce  to  M streets.  In  1913,  Robinson  Hall,  a fireproof  con- 
struction equipped  as  a strictly  modern  hospital,  was  completed  on  this 
site,  as  a part  of  Sibley  Hospital.  It  bore  the  honored  name  of  devoted 
friends  of  deaconess  work, — Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  C.  Robinson  (the 
latter,  as  Miss  Jane  Bancroft,  having  been  identified  with  the  work  from 
its  beginning) . This  hospital  is  national  in  character  and  all  Methodism 
was  allowed  a part  in  its  erection.  When  built  it  was  the  only  denomina- 
tional Protestant  hospital  and  the  most  complete  hospital  in  the  nation’s 
capitol  city.  It  receives  no  public  funds. 

In  1908  this  well-equipped  plant,  consisting  of  Sibley  Hall, 


[80] 


Administration  and  other  buildings  of  the  Tuberculosis  Hospital, 
Albuquerque,  New  Mexico 


Methodist  Deaconess  Hospital,  Rapid  City,  South  Dakota 


Robinson  Hall  and  Rust  Hall  was  valued  at  $250,000.  By  1911 
the  National  Training  School  maintained  four  departments:  (1)  The 
bioie  School,  in  which  both  theoretical  and  practical  teaching  was  given 
to  young  women  for  the  work  of  deaconess,  missionary,  evangelist  and 
Bible  teacher.  (2)  Domestic  Science  School,  in  which  cooking,  sewing 
and  household  economy  were  taught.  (3)  Kindergarten  School,  where 
women  were  trained  in  the  use  of  the  best  kindergarten  methods.  (4) 
Sibley  Hospital,  for  the  training  of  Christian  nurses.  In  1918-19  the 
kindergarten  school  was  discontinued  and  instead  instruction  in  kinder- 
garten subjects  such  as  mother  plays  and  nature  study  was  given  by  a 
graduated  kindergartner.  Besides  scientific  instruction,  a new  course  was 
open  to  students,  giving  them  practice  in  parish  visiting,  social  settlement 
work,  associated  charities,  visiting  and  co-operating  in  various  institutions 
and  agencies  of  the  church,  philanthropic  and  social  service.  The  Spanish 
language  was  taught  also. 

Sibley  Hospital — Sibley  Hospital,  established  in  1 890,  is  a 
notable  part  of  the  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  National  Training  School.  Dur- 
ing the  nineteen  years  of  its  existence  it  has  become  a modern,  well- 
equipped,  high-grade,  self-sustaining  hospital  as  well  as  an  excellent 
Training  School  for  nurse-deaconesses.  There  were  nineteen  different 
denominations  represented  among  its  patients,  one-quarter  were  free  cases 
and  in  addition  to  four  hundred  emergency  cases  there  were  two  thousand 
cases  of  district  work  cared  for  by  Sibley  Hospital. 

The  hospital  is  unique  in  that  it  has  no  resident  medical  staff.  Any 
reputable  physician  may  attend  his  patients  in  the  hospital  whether 
admitted  with  or  without  charge,  and  no  discrimination  is  made  as  to  race 
or  religion.  One  year  two  hundred  physicians  had  cases  in  Sibley.  In 
1909,  Congress  courteously  tendered  the  hospital  a contract  for  caring  for 
such  patients  as  the  Government  might  see  fit  to  send  them.  After  con- 
sideration, the  offer  was  respectfully  declined  on  the  ground  that  such 
arrangements  would  demand  work  which  would  interfere  with  the  object 
of  the  work  at  the  National  Training  School.  The  training  ranks  with  that 
of  any  hospital.  A gift  from  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Haywood  resulted  in  the 
opening  of  pathological  and  X-ray  laboratories  and  a free  dispensary  in 
1915.  The  latest  report  of  this  wonderful  school  for  nurses  makes  note 


of  thorough  practice  by  student  nurses  in  medical,  gynecological,  obstet- 
rical and  children’s  wards.  The  hospital  has  had  no  government  appro- 
priation and  the  bills  run  high.  It  has  had  great  help,  however,  from  the 
Sibley  Hospital  Guild  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  organized  in  1903.  The 
two  hundred  ladies  of  the  Guild  have  supplied  as  much  as  $1 ,300  to*  the 
hospital  in  a year  and  paid  for  the  elevator  installed  in  the  building. 

Kansas  City  National  Training  School — This  school  has 
been  called  the  “hub  of  the  Western  Deaconess  Bureau.”  Its  import- 
ance can  be  understood  from  the  fact  that  it  was  needed  for  the  many 
young  women  of  the  Middle  West  who  wished  to  enter  Training 
Schools.  Kansas  City  also  furnished  a great  field  for  practice  in  Chris- 
tian service.  It  had  a large  foreign  section.  Crowded  factory  districts 
and  slum  conditions  in  “the  bottoms”  were  bad.  The  school  had  an 
industrial  mission  in  the  flood  district,  for  the  repeated  overflow  of  the 
river  caused  much  suffering.  Two  hundred  children  attended  and  took 
sewing  and  basket  weaving.  In  1 903  the  Mission  building  was  burned ; 
the  kindergarten  was  shut  off  and  floods  added  greatly  to  the  wreck. 
Bethany  Hospital  had  been  in  existence  at  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  for  eight 
years  before  the  Society  began  work  in  connection  with  it.  In  1 889 
they  opened  a Deaconess  and  Bible  Training  School  at  251  Orchard 
Avenue,  with  three  people,  the  superintendent,  a visiting  deaconess  and  a 
kindergartner.  They  offered  deaconess  training  in  conjunction  with  nurse 
training  at  Bethany. 

The  old  saying  that  a prophet  is  not  without  honor  save  in  his  own 
country  could  not  hold  true  of  this  Training  School.  It  became  very 
popular  with  the  people  of  the  city.  Ministers,  teachers,  charity  workers, 
doctors,  lawyers  and  business  men  vied  with  each  other  to  do  it  a service. 
Nearby  Conferences  raised  $1,000  toward  a new  Home  now 
named  Fisk  Hall,  after  a former  National  president  of  the  Society, 
Mrs.  Clinton  B.  Fisk.  One  business  man,  Mr.  C.  W.  Schoelkopf, 
gave  the  Society  a ten-acre  tract  of  land  high  above  the  river.  The 
building  put  upon  this  valuable  site  cost  $15,000.  City  improve- 
ments followed  so  fast  upon  its  erection  that  the  property  was  worth 
$40,000  by  the  time  it  was  done.  When  donated,  this  was  the  most 
valuable  gift  ever  received  by  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


[82] 


A second  building  was  added  to  the  Training  School  in  1908  and 
was  crowded  with  students.  It  was  soon  seen  that  an  administration 
building  was  necessary  for  the  expansion  of  this  great  and  growing  work, 
and  plans  were  made  and  ground  broken  for  such  a building.  The  gift 
of  $2,500  made  by  the  heirs  of  Mr.  Schoelkopf,  the  former  benefactor 
of  Fisk,  made  Schoelkopf  Hall  possible.  The  alumnae  of  the  Training 
School  gave  $2,000  toward  the  building  and  later  pledged  money  for  a 
Steinway  piano  for  Bancroft  Chapel  in  Schoelkopf  Hall.  The  new 
building  when  complete  was  pronounced  the  best  equipped  building  of  its 
kind  in  Methodism.  It  cost  $80,000.  Although  the  debt  was  quite 
heavy,  the  friends  and  Bureau  secretary  were  very  courageous  about  it. 
Then  National  appropriations  were  cut  and  they  were  dismayed.  The 
nearby  Conferences  came  to  their  aid  and  the  debt  was  reduced  to 
$6,000.  This  has  since  been  paid  by  the  National  Society. 

McCrum  National  Training  School — Perhaps  no  Training 
School  in  the  country  appeals  to  the  imagination  as  much  as  McCrum 
National  Training  School  for  Slavonic  girls.  It  is  located  at  Uniontown, 
in  the  centre  of  the  foreign  population  of  Western  Pennsylvania.  Its 
last  enrollment  included  twenty-two  girls,  eleven  Bohemians,  one  Mora- 
vian, one  Magyar,  one  Russian,  three  Slovak  and  five  Polish.  This 
National  Training  School  of  the  Society  was  designed  to  meet  the  needs 
of  Slavonic  girls  who  were  either  born  in  this  country  or,  having  come 
from  Europe,  wish  to  do  missionary  work  among  their  people.  The  num- 
ber of  nationalities  makes  it  necessary  to  have  lessons  in  English, 
Bohemian,  Polish  or  Slovak  languages;  the  course  of  study  is  funda- 
mentally like  the  course  planned  for  all  the  National  Training  Schools, 
but  emphasis  is  laid  on  a thorough  course  in  Bible  study  and  special 
courses  in  English.  There  is  also  added  class  work  in  Bohemian  and 
Slovak  grammar  and  reading.  Practical  mission  work  is  required  among 
the  Slavonic  people  in  the  surrounding  coke  region. 

The  principal  of  this  school,  Miss  Elizabeth  Davis,  is  especially  fitted 
to  supervise  this  special  work.  In  1911  she  visited  Bohemia  to  perfect 
herself  in  the  language  and  to  study  the  home-life  of  the  Bohemians  who 
were  coming  to  America.  She  brought  back  with  her  three  Bohemian 
girls  who  entered  the  Training  School  and  completed  the  course. 

McCrum  originated  in  a Home  secured  and  fitted  up  in  the  inter- 


[83] 


ests  of  mission  work  for  foreigners  in  the  extensive  Connellsville  coke 
region  of  which  Uniontown  is  the  centre.  Although  it  was  adopted  in 
1 909  by  the  Society,  to  be  known  as  the  McCrum  National  Training 
School  for  Slavonic  Young  Women,  no  appropriation  was  made  for  it. 
i he  managers  of  the  Society  had  agreed  to  assume  no  financial  responsi- 
bility for  new  work  until  debts  already  incurred  should  be  discharged. 
A local  committee  of  nine  women  was  elected  toi  look  after  this  fascinat- 
ing project  and  they  were  instructed  to  do  what  they  could.  The  com- 
mittee had  no  money  on  hand,  and  none  had  been  pledged,  so  they  set 
to  work  to  “do  what  they  could/’  The  year’s  result  was  $1,150 
pledged.  In  addition,  Mrs.  T.  F.  Pershing,  a member  of  the  committee, 
gave  $5,000  in  memory  of  her  daughter,  to  be  known  as  the  Marie 
Greenland  Endowment  Fund  for  McCrum  National  Training  School. 
1 hen  the  school  received  its  first  appropriation.  In  1913a  fine  property 
was  acquired  for  $25,000.  The  main  building  was  a handsome  old 
mansion,  while  the  garage  was  made  over  into  a dormitory  and  recitation 
rooms.  Pledges  of  $14,000  had  been  made  by  Queen  Esther  Circles, 
Mothers’  Jewels  and  auxiliaries  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society.  The  McCrum  alumnae  have  given  $2,000  since  the  new  hall 
was  opened. 

The  1918  class  was  the  largest  ever  graduated  from  McCrum.  It 
included  eight  young  women,  four  Bohemian,  two  Polish  and  two  Slovak. 
This  process  of  Americanization  has  been  carried  on  for  nine  years  by 
the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  with  methods  which  are  fast 
being  adopted  by  other  agencies  in  the  country. 

San  Francisco  National  Training  School — In  1891  Miss 
Jane  Bancroft  visited  San  Francisco  and  initiated  deaconess  work  in  that 
city.  The  Training  School  places  its  beginning  on  that  date.  The  Dea- 
coness Home  was  closed  in  1893  after  the  death  of  the  superintendent 
and  the  work  was  not  resumed  until  1 894.  The  early  work  of  the 
deaconesses  consisted  of  prison  and  jail  meetings,  ship  and  hospital  work, 
rescue  work,  connected  with  the  rescue  of  Oriental  slave  girls  brought 
through  the  Golden  Gate,  and  the  holding  of  evangelistic  services.  The 
new  superintendent  also  instituted  a Bible  Training  School.  In  1901  a 
good  property  was  purchased  and  the  school  installed  as  the  National 
Training  School  for  the  Pacific  coast.  Methodists  of  San  Francisco 


[84] 


helped  the  school  in  every  way  possible,  and  especially  as  teachers  for 
the  training  classes.  It  was  in  a fair  way  to  advance  rapidly,  being  the 
one  Training  School  on  the  coast,  situated  among  half  a million  people 
from  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  The  earthquake  and  fire  which  ruined 
the  city  in  1 906  delayed  the  enlargement  of  the  institution  and  the  build- 
ing of  new  and  handsome  buildings.  Methodists  of  that  region  were 
put  to  it  in  the  general  rebuilding  of  their  homes  and  business  places,  so 
that  the  claims  for  a new  equipment  for  the  National  Training  School 
could  not  be  pushed. 

The  building  stood  through  the  catastrophe,  but  had  fallen  chimneys, 
broken  plaster  and  fractured  foundation  walls.  An  account  given  by  the 
Home  people  is  of  historical  interest: 

“In  San  Francisco,  1 906  will  be  remembered  as  the  earthquake  year, 
and  in  the  ‘Training  School’  the  class  of  1906  as  the  ‘earthquake  class’! 

“While  the  great  city  was  still  asleep  and  quiet,  save  for  the  spar- 
rows, the  milkmen  and  the  early  street  car,  with  the  suddenness  of  a 
thunderbolt  the  city  began  to  shake  and  quake  and  reel  like  a drunken 
man,  and  in  terror  and  with  blanched  faces,  without  waiting  to  gather 
up  their  priceless  treasures,  a half  million  frightened  people  rushed  head- 
long into  the  streets,  believing,  many  of  them,  that  the  end  of  the  world 
had  come.  Within  an  hour  in  fifty  different  localities  the  fire  fiend  had 
started  on  its  destructive  march.  For  three  days  and  nights  the  red,  angry 
billows  rolled  up  and  down  over  streets  until  the  homes  of  200,000 
people  had  been  consumed  and  $400,000,000  worth  of  property  had 
been  destroyed.  Again  and  again  the  fire  approached  within  a block  of 
us,  but  at  the  end  of  the  awful  holocaust  the  Homd  stood  erect  and  safe. 
With  the  first  shock  every  book  was  thrown  from  the  shelves  which  lined 
the  walls  of  our  large  library  and  office  room.  The  business  desk  was 
open  and  everything  in  the  pigeon-holes  was  scattered  as  well  as  contents 
of  the  drawers.  The  Home  became  a refuge  for  many  shelterless  people, 
and  during  weary  months  since  all  our  energy  and  skill  have  been  gladly 
given  to  those  who  stood  at  our  doors  pleading  for  help  and  sympathy.’* 

From  that  day  the  San  Francisco  Training  School  has  worked  heroic- 
ally against  difficulties.  The  students  have  filled  the  old  building,  repaired 
after  its  terrible  shake-up  of  1906.  Among  the  students  at  the  San 
Francisco  School  were  two  Mexicans  and  one  Korean,  training  for  work 


[85] 


among  their  own  people.  Now,  in  the  year  1920,  it  is  about  to  come 
into  its  own  in  the  way  of  a thorough  revision  and  re-equipment.  At  the 
1918  annual  meeting,  initial  action  was  taken  upon  this  most  pressing 
case.  A special  committee  was  appointed  at  the  request  of  the  Bureau 
secretary  to  consider  the  whole  situation:  1 . As  to  the  advisability  of 
separating  the  local  deaconess  work  and  the  Training  School  then  housed 
in  one  building.  These  were  separated  a year  later.  2.  The  appoint- 
ment of  a president.  The  Committee  secured  the  services  of  Rev.  A.  C. 
Stevens,  D.D.,  of  San  Francisco.  The  study  course  is  adapted  to  meet 
Western  needs  in  community  service  and  rural  work,  and  a school  of 
religious  education  for  local  Sunday-school  workers  and  Epworth  League 
workers  has  been  established. 

National  Training  School  for  Negro  Deaconesses — The 
National  Training  School  for  Negro  Deaconesses  was  first  located  in 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  under  the  care  of  Rev.  W.  H.  Riley,  for  the  training 
of  young  women  of  his  own  race  who  wished  to  do  deaconess  work 
among  their  own  people.  He  was  a graduate  of  Gammon  Theological 
Seminary  and  competent  to  take  up  this  work,  which  received  the  endorse- 
ment of  Bishop  Thoburn  and  the  Society  workers  in  the  city.  He  started 
in  with  little  financial  assistance.  The  school  received  a small  appropria- 
tion from  the  Society  in  1901.  After  two  years,  Mr.  Riley  was  moved 
to  Indianapolis  and  the  training  of  deaconesses  was  carried  on  from  there. 
By  1 902  “deaconess  work  among  the  Negro  people  of  Methodism  seemed 
to  be  largely  centering  in  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.’’  A 
Miss  Hall,  a graduate  of  Thayer,  with  additional  deaconess  training  at 
Boston  Deaconess  Home,  finished  a year  of  excellent  work  at  Atlanta, 
demonstrating  thereby  the  possibilities  of  Negro  deaconess  work.  Four 
graduates  had  finished  under  Mr.  Riley.  The  Delaware  Conference 
(Negro)  asked  to  have  its  deaconess  work  reported  with  the  work  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  A desire  was  voiced  to  locate  the 
Training  School  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  so  that  the  deaconesses  could  have 
special  instruction  at  Gammon  Theological  Seminary. 

Still  the  deaconess  Bureau  for  Negro  work  found  itself  face  to  face 
with  two  problems  to  be  solved  before  a Training  School  could  be 
located.  There  was  need  of  competent,  sensible,  consecrated  women, 
well-trained  for  service,  and  a more  general  willingness  on  the  part  of 


[86] 


the  Negro  churches  to  employ  these  women  when  so  equipped.  The 
perplexing  question  of  the  Training  School  dragged  along  for  two  years. 
There  was  a general  opinion  that  if  the  advanced  course  of  study  pre- 
scribed by  the  Discipline  could  be  grafted  on  the  curriculum  of  the  higher 
schools  of  the  Freedmen’s  Aid  Society,  the  need  would  be  met.  Then 
the  outlook  for  the  school  grew  brighter.  The  Negroes  began  to  under- 
stand the  work  better.  The  need  for  workers  increased,  their  people 
were  coming  in  large  numbers  from  the  South  to  the  North  and  the 
deaconesses  were  a potent  factor  in  building  them  into  the  church. 

In  1915  the  National  Training  School  for  Negro  Deaconesses  was 
located  at  Asheville,  N.  C.  A corner  property  was  secured  with  an 
eight-room  house.  This  was  admirably  adapted  to  the  stated  needs,  with 
opportunity  for  caring  for  the  work  as  it  should  develop.  The  school 
opened  with  a small  class  of  students,  graduates  of  industrial  schools, 
and  a small  corps  of  good  teachers.  The  first  three  graduates,  the  class 
of  1918,  all  from  the  Kindergarten  Department,  entered  mission  fields 
in  Southern  cities.  In  October,  1919,  the  training  of  Negro  girls  was 
transferred  to  the  Iowa  National  Bible  Training  School,  at  Des  Moines, 
Iowa. 

Folts  Mission  Institute— Folts  Mission  Institute  at  Herkimer, 
N.  Y.,  was  transferred  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  from 
the  Northern  New  York  Conference,  in  1914.  The  property,  with 
bonds  and  securities,  was  valued  at  $1  50,000.  Eleven  thousand  dollars 
indebtedness  was  paid  by  the  Society  on  receiving  it.  The  purpose  of 
Folts  Mission  Institute  is  to  give  a practical  training  to  young  women 
for  mission  and  deaconess  work.  The  course  of  study  prepared  for  the 
students  is  based  on  the  course  outlined  by  the  Deaconess  Bureau.  It 
includes  Bible  Study,  Kindergarten,  Domestic  Arts  and  Science.  The 
Bible  course  includes  studies  in  psychology,  sociology,  church  history, 
comparative  religions,  history  of  missions,  religious  pedagogy,  music, 
elocution,  physical  culture  and  nature  study. 

In  1916  the  Institute  offered  a special  course  in  religious  education 
to  local  Sunday-school  and  Epworth  League  workers.  The  third  year 
closed  with  four  graduates  and  ten  students  already  in  the  field.  Folts 
became  a National  Training  School  in  1918-19.  Eight  courses  of  stud) 
were  prepared  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  various  students. 


[87] 


Conference  Training  Schools — Four  deaconess  Homes  early 
established  departments  for  deaconess  training:  Iowa  Bible  School  at 
Des  Moines,  Iowa,  became  a National  Training  School  in  1919; 
Aldrich  Memorial  Home,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich. ; Brooklyn  Deaconess 
Home,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ; and  Dwight  Blakeslee  Memorial  School,  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  have  been  supported  by  special  Conference  funds, 
and  conducted  and  maintained  by  Conference  societies  and  activities. 
Their  aim  has  been  to  furnish  Conference  workers.  Students  trained 
in  these  Homes  could  not  be  taken  from  the  jurisdiction  of  a local 
Conference  and  placed  elsewhere  by  the  General  Society  unless  that 
Conference  released  the  worker  to  a broader  or  more  specialized  work. 
The  General  Society  has  always  been  glad  to  place  workers  not  needed 
in  local  Conferences.  These  Conference  Training  Schools  follow  the 
course  of  study  required  for  National  Training  Schools,  with  additions 
to  the  curriculum  to  meet  the  local  needs.  The  Brooklyn  Training 
School  added  Italian  classes  to  help  workers  in  opening  up  work  among 
Italians  of  the  neighborhood. 

Dwight  Blakeslee  Memorial  Training  School  offers  opportunity  for 
study  in  the  School  of  Religion  at  Yale  University.  It  has  done  very 
effective  practical  work  in  the  taking  over  of  a rural  church.  This  school 
developed  a Sunday-school  and  organized  a company  of  young  people 
who  contribute  to  the  general  benevolences  of  the  church. 

Candidates  for  admission  to  the  Training  Schools  of  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  must  have,  at  least,  a high  school  course  or 
its  equivalent.  The  regular  lines  of  activity  are  Bible,  domestic  science, 
kindergarten,  social  service,  and  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  training  of 
Christian  nurses. 

The  DEACONESS— The  pivot  upon  which  all  the  elaborate  and 
highly  specialized  work  of  the  Deaconess  Department  swings  is  the  dea- 
coness. If  the  trained  worker  is  available,  the  work  will  go  on  so  long 
as  there  is  misery  and  sin  in  the  world.  The  supplying  of  this  important 
field  is  not  left  to  chance  nor  alone  to  the  leadings  of  a benign  Providence. 
The  local  deaconess  boards  seek  young  women  in  their  territory  whom 
they  take  into  the  Home  for  a series  of  testings  and  thence  send  them  to 
the  Training  School.  The  deaconesses  have  come  largely  from  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  churches,  Sunday-schools  and  Epworth  Leagues.  Some 


[88] 


are  from  cities,  others  from  rural  districts.  All  are  followers  of  Christ. 
The  need  is  urgent  and  the  call  constant  and  the  demand  for  them  often 
embarrassing.  The  discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  enu- 
merates as  the  duties  of  the  deaconess  those  which  the  Society  has  been 
meeting  for  twenty-seven  years.  No  person  can  be  recognized  or  em- 
ployed as  a deaconess  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  who  fails  to 
comply  with  disciplinary  requirements.  Each  deaconess  wears  the  pre- 
scribed garb.  She  is  given  a license  without  which  she  cannot  do  active 
work  or  wear  the  garb.  This  license  is  renewed  yearly,  after  she  has 
made  her  annual  report  personally  or  through  the  Quarterly  Conference 
to  the  Annual  Conference  with  which  she  is  connected. 

There  are  several  types  of  deaconesses : 

1 . The  Visiting  Deaconess.  A parish  deaconess  who  becomes  a 
member  of  the  church  which  she  serves. 

2.  The  Field  Deaconess.  A specialist  who  instructs  people  in 
carrying  out  plans  of  work. 

3.  The  Travelers’  Aid  Deaconess.  One  who  meets  trains  and  helps 
girls  and  women  at  railway  stations. 

4.  The  Kindergarten  Deaconess.  A specialist  in  the  Christian  train- 
ing of  young  children. 

5.  The  Nurse  Deaconess.  A specialist  in  ministering  to  both  sick 
bodies  and  souls. 

6.  The  Missionary  Deaconess.  A city  mission  worker. 

7.  The  Rural  Deaconess.  One  who  ministers  to  people  in  country 
districts. 

8.  The  Deaconess  has  even  preached  in  neglected  districts,  where 
preaching  had  been  unknown  for  years. 

The  splendid  individual  work  of  the  deaconesses  of  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  is  necessarily  buried  in  the  annals  of  the 
deaconess  Homes  with  which  they  are  respectively  connected.  It  is 
pleasant  to  record,  however,  that  the  workers  chosen  by  the  Governor 
of  Ohio  and  the  Mayor  of  Cleveland  to  represent  state  and  city  at  a 
National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction  held  at  Buffalo,  were 
both  deaconesses.  At  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  municipal  authorities  appointed 


[89] 


the  superintendent  of  the  Deaconess  Home  of  that  city  as  probation 
officer.  These  are  only  two  instances  of  the  many  in  which  municipal 
and  state  authorities  have  taken  counsel  with  the  deaconesses. 

When  a woman  becomes  a deaconess  she  lays  aside  all  other  lines 
of  work,  securing  her  support  from  the  Society.  During  the  years  the 
deaconesses  had  an  allowance  of  first  eight  dollars,  then  fifteen  dollars, 
and  now  twenty  dollars,  a month  for  clothes  and  sundries.  It  is  only 
just  that  the  relation  of  the  deaconess  to  the  church  and  its  officials  be  so 
defined  by  the  General  Deaconess  Board  as  to  make  the  deaconess  feel 
that  she  is  a part  of  a great  organization  of  the  church.  The  demand  was 
that  she  must  act  her  part  and  respect  church  law,  while  the  church  was 
committed  in  return  to  shelter,  protect,  endorse  and  strengthen  the 
deaconess,  furnishing  her  full  life  support. 

The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  early  met  the  problem 
of  caring  for  those  deaconesses  who  were  worn  out  by  heavy  duties  or 
broken  in  health  before  their  time.  Rest  Homes  became  a part  of  their 
wonderful  equipment.  There  the  deaconess  could  go  for  a time  to  rest 
and  recuperate  from  the  strenuous  work  which  her  calling  demands. 
Among  the  Rest  Homes  enjoyed  by  the  deaconesses  are  Bancroft-Taylor, 
at  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J.,  founded  in  1 896,  and  first  opened  for  the  winter 
season  in  1902;  Thompson,  at  Mountain  Lake  Park,  Md.,  purchased 
in  1899,  and  cared  for  by  ladies  of  the  Baltimore  Conference;  Caroline, 
a cottage  located  at  Round  Lake  Camp  Ground,  presented  to  Troy 
Conference  in  memory  of  Mrs.  Caroline  O.  Bancroft;  Elvira  Olney, 
Ludington,  Mich.,  at  Epworth  Heights  Assembly  Grounds  on  the  shores 
of  Lake  Michigan,  under  the  care  of  the  Michigan  Conference,  the  result 
of  an  appeal  in  1901  ; Kate  Cunningham,  at  Ridgeview  Park,  Ridge- 
view,  Pa.,  under  the  care  of  the  Pittsburgh  Conference;  Fenton  Memorial 
Home,  Chautauqua,  N.  Y. ; Beulah  Heights,  Oakland,  Cal. 

The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  has  been  very  thorough  in 
its  work  and  the  Deaconess  Department  has  been  true  to  tradition  in 
establishing  in  1901  a permanent  deaconess  fund  for  superannuated 
deaconesses  and  in  ruling  that  each  deaconess  institution  should  pay  in 
to  the  fund  ten  dollars  a year  for  each  licensed  deaconess  and  five  dollars 
per  year  for  each  probationer  in  the  institution.  Each  station  served  by 
a deaconess  shall  pay  fifteen  dollars  for  each  licensed  deaconess  and  ten 


[90] 


dollars  for  unlicensed  deaconesses.  Through  this  assessment,  gifts  and 
annuities,  the  Permanent  Deaconess  Fund  has  totaled  $13,740.  In 
1917-18,  forty-two  workers  were  cared  for  and  ten  replaced  in  active 
service.  To  increase  the  fund  the  secretary  of  the  Permanent  Deaconess 
Fund  in  each  Conference  was  expected  to  raise  one  hundred  dollars  in 
the  Conference  each  year. 

The  Deaconess  Home — The  Deaconess  Home  is  not  only  the 
place  where  the  deaconess  lives.  It  is  also  the  centre  from  which  go  out 
workers  with  help  and  relief  to  the  surrounding  community.  It  is  the 
lodestone  to  which  the  unfortunate,  the  helpless  and  sin-sick  are  drawn 
for  succor,  encouragement  and  the  ministry  of  God’s  people. 

The  permanency  of  the  Deaconess  Home  in  any  Conference  depends 
entirely  upon  the  ability  to  keep  in  the  training  schools  year  after  year 
a succession  of  strong,  spiritually-minded  young  women.  The  work  of  the 
Deaconess  Flome  depends  upon  the  interpretation  of  the  needs  of  the 
community  where  it  is  located  and  the  wise  use  of  the  resources  at 
the  command  of  the  deaconess  family  in  the  Home. 

It  was  the  early  policy  of  the  deaconess  bureau'  to  refrain  from  inter- 
fering with  the  internal  management  of  the  individual  Deaconess  Homes. 
The  authority  of  the  Flomes  centered  in  the  local  board  of  managers  and 
the  Conference  deaconess  board.  In  1 895  authority  was  granted  to  all 
cities  and  towns  where  there  were  Deaconess  Homes  to  retain  one-half 
the  dues  of  the  auxiliaries  in  those  towns  for  the  support  of  the  local 
Home.  Thus,  the  support  of  the  Deaconess  Homes  rested  upon  the  sum 
gained  from  partial  dues  and  from  local  support,  while  other  mission 
work  of  the  Society  depends  upon  appropriations  from  the  general  treasury 
and  from  special  gifts  raised  by  the  auxiliaries. 

Not  all  Homes  are  equipped  in  the  same  way,  nor  situated  in 
equally  fortunate  locations.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  the  women  of  the 
Society,  however,  that  every  effort  is  continually  put  forth  to  reach  the 
ideal  Deaconess  Home,  a modern,  comfortable,  restful  Home,  well 
equipped  for  its  particular  work,  beautiful  to  look  upon,  wholesome  to 
live  in.  The  majority  of  these  Homes  are  of  such  a standard. 

Connected  with  each  Deaconess  Home  is  the  work  which  that  par- 
ticular Home  has  developed,  as  it  sought  to  meet  the  emergencies  created 


by  the  life  about  it.  The  study  of  these  connectional  vocations  results 
in  unbounded  praise  for  the  entire  working  constituency.  The  list 
includes  orphanages,  hospitals,  dispensaries,  day  nurseries,  employment 
bureaus,  special  relief  work,  coal  yards,  farms,  fresh  air  camps,  penny 
savings  accounts,  institutional  buildings,  cafeterias,  social  settlements  and 
industrial  work. 

A few  specific  examples  will  suffice  to  show  the  variety,  quality  and 
magnitude  of  the  work.  The  Cleveland  Deaconess  Home  has  a fresh 
air  camp  in  the  woods.  They  established  one  for  the  children  under 
their  jurisdiction  and  later  another,  in  close  proximity,  for  the  mothers  of 
the  children.  The  mothers  were  not  only  given  a much-needed  rest 
within  calling  distance  of  their  little  folks,  but  were  also  surrounded  by 
clean,  model  housekeeping  as  a pointed  suggestion  of  what  they  might  do 
for  their  own  families.  They  had  a day  nursery  at  West  Side  Cottage. 
The  children  were  taken  care  of  until  the  family  had  become  self-sup- 
porting. Then  the  mother  had  to  stay  at  home  to  care  for  the  children 
herself.  This  West  Side  Cottage  was  called  the  Deaconess  Community 
House.  They  distributed  from  the  Cleveland  Homes  as  many  as  four 
hundred  and  fifty  baskets  of  fruits  and  jellies  in  a season. 

The  crowning  success  of  Cleveland  has  been  its  Industrial  Relief 
Department,  which  has  indeed  solved  a problem  of  support  and  supplied 
a need.  Women  not  physically  able  to  do  hard  work  are  employed  in 
mending  and  making  over  second-hand  garments.  These  are  sold  at  low 
prices  to  people  who  cannot  make  or  secure  new  garments,  and  the  money 
pays  the  workers.  This  industrial  relief  will  be  enlarged  by  the  Good- 
will Industry,  being  opened  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at 
Cleveland. 

This  Home  cared  for  over  one  hundred  children  in  1914.  The 
deaconesses  looked  after  them  on  a sixty-acre  farm  at  Williamsville, 
where  they  trained  the  children  as  a means  of  saving  our  cities.  Buffalo 
Home  also  has  a hospital  ward.  Cunningham  Home,  at  Urbana,  111., 
is  a Conference  orphanage.  San  Francisco  supports  a settlement  called 
the  “Friendly  Centre”  in  the  “Little  Italy”  of  that  city.  The  Detroit 
Home  has  two  missions  under  its  care. 

The  Philadelphia  Home  has  a variety  of  work.  One  deaconess 
gives  her  whole  time  to  immigrant  work.  Its  industrial  department  has 


[92] 


included  sewing,  dressmaking,  sloyd  and  wood  carving,  printing,  basketry* 
chair  caning  and  domestic  science,  fresh  air  work,  mothers’  and  fathers’ 
meetings.  They  have  a Junior  League,  Boys’  Temperance  Legion,  Bible 
study  hour,  club  work,  kindergarten,  kitchen  garden.  The  penny  sav- 
ings account  has  been  very  successful.  The  relief  work  at  Philadelphia 
has  taken  the  form  of  selling  second-hand  garments  cheap,  and  conduct- 
ing a coal  yard.  It  has  been  a matter  of  general  knowledge  that  the 
small  buckets  of  coal  bought  by  the  poor  are  costly,  making  the  aggregate 
cost  of  a ton  from  three  to  five  times  the  rate  paid  by  people  who  buy  in 
large  quantities.  The  Philadelphia  Deaconess  Home  buys  coal  by  the 
ton  at  a reasonable  price  and  sells  it  to  the  poor  by  the  bucketful  at  the 
cost  price.  The  boys  who  help  at  the  coal  yard  are  paid  with  second- 
hand clothes. 

Where  there  is  no  Home  and  deaconess  work  is  needed,  deaconesses 
are  sometimes  sent  to  work  as  pastors’  assistants  or  to  begin  missionary 
work  at  some  place  designated  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Society. 
The  stations  at  Portland,  Me. ; New  Haven,  Conn. ; Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ; 
Jersey  City,  N.  J. ; Albany,  Utica  and  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  and 
Altoona,  Pa.,  minister  to  Italians.  At  Baltimore,  Md.,  they  reach 
Bohemians,  Poles  and  Slavs.  Baltimore  Deaconess  Home  has  done 
splendid  work  for  years,  reaching  yearly  over  1 ,600  children.  This 
Home  has  beautiful  institutional  buildings,  which  enable  them  to  do 
first-class  institutional  work  along  all  accepted  lines. 

NATIONAL  HOSPITALS 

The  Training  Schools  have  grown  up  largely  under  the  fostering 
care  of  the  general  Society,  while  the  hospitals  have,  with  few  exceptions, 
developed  in  the  Deaconess  Department,  and  have  been  under  its  super- 
vision at  some  time. 

Brewster  Hospital  at  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  grew  out  of  a nurse  training 
class  at  Boylan  Industrial  Home  and  School  for  Negro  Girls,  and  is  the 
only  Negro  “house  of  mercy”1  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society,  and  the  only  school  for  Negro  nurses. 

Sibley  Memorial  Hospital,  the  Nurse  Training  Department  of  the 
Lucy  Webb  Hayes  National  Training  School  at  Washington,  D.  C. ; 


[93] 


Graham  Protestant  Hospital  at  Keokuk,  Iowa;  Ellen  A.  Burge  De& 
coness  Hospital  at  Springfield,  Mo.;  the  Tuberculosis  Hospital  at  Albu- 
querque,  N.  M. ; the  Deaconess  Hospital  at  Rapid  City,  S.  D. ; and 
Brewster  Hospital  at  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  are  the  property  of  the  Genera) 
Society.  That  is,  they  are  under  the  control  of  its  Board  of  Trustees. 
The  rest  listed  among  the  Society’s  institutions  either  belong  to  Confer- 
ences, or  are  affiliated  with  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society. 
Those  thus  affiliated  have  their  own  by-laws  and  constitutions,  that 
are  not  opposed  to  the  by-laws  and  constitution  of  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society.  Where  they  are  affiliated  with  the  Society, 
the  women  of  the  Conference  are  the  Board  of  Managers,  and  get  credit 
through  the  Society  for  money  and  supplies  given  to  the  hospital.  The 
Indiana  Methodist  Episcopal  Hospital  is  one  thus  affiliated. 

Repeated  requests  came  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
for  it  to  take  over  the  care  of  Graham  Hospital  at  Keokuk,  Iowa.  This 
was  done  in  1901.  It  was  a fine  hospital,  equipped  with  appliances 
equal  to  the  modern  demand.  The  work  was  done  so  well  by  the  dea- 
conesses and  the  owners  were  so  pleased  that  in  1905  they  gave  title 
deeds  of  the  property  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  This 
institution  became  the  special  care  of  the  Iowa  Conference,  and  met  the 
demands  for  a Protestant  hospital.  It  needed  enlarging  as  early  as  1 904 
and  ever  has  been  full  to  overcrowding.  Later  a Home  for  nurses  was 
donated  to  the  Society.  A woman’s  guild  is  a great  aid  to  Graham 
Hospital.  Forty  different  physicians  and  surgeons  practiced  there  in  one 
year.  The  nurse  deaconess  course  for  graduation  requires  three  years. 

Ellen  A.  Burge  Deaconess  Hospital  was  opened  Thanksgiving  Day, 
1907,  at  Springfield,  Mo.  It  has  a superb  location,  high  on  the  moun- 
tains, in  the  queen  city  of  the  “Ozarks.”  Six  months  later  a second  build- 
ing was  built  and  the  first  was  used  as  a nurses’  home.  This  gives  great 
service  to  all  the  surrounding  country  where  no  other  Methodist  Hospital 
is  available.  During  the  first  year  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  patients 
were  cared  for. 

Beth-el  Hospital,  Colorado  Springs,  belongs  to  the  Colorado  Con- 
ference. A deaconess  aid  society  had  possession  of  an  institution  at 
Colorado  Springs.  It  was  first  used  as  a deaconess  sanitarium  and  then 
transferred  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  Conference. 


[94] 


In  1 903  the  women  of  the  Conference  assumed  the  task  of  raising  money 
for  Beth-el  Hospital.  After  five  years  of  work,  $50,000  was  pledged 
on  a new  building.  Ground  was  given  by  General  Palmer,  and  the 
pavilion  plan  of  building  was  carried  out,  a main  building,  with  wings 
connected  with  the  main  building  by  corridors.  In  1911  a second  build- 
ing was  erected.  This  covered  an  entire  city  square  and  when  complete 
cost  $1  50,000.  The  Hospital  Guild,  composed  of  two  hundred  women 
from  all  the  Protestant  churches  of  the  city,  helped  materially  in  gather- 
ing funds.  The  women  placed  a pavilion  within  the  grounds  for  con- 
valescing children.  A new  Home  for  nurses  was  erected  and  an  X-ray 
machine  installed.  Among  the  large  number  of  patients  were  people  from 
nineteen  states  of  the  Union  and  one  from  a foreign  country. 

The  Society  has  had  to  refuse  taking  over  many  hospitals  offered  to 
it.  The  reason  for  this  apparent  indifference  was  quite  simple, — the  lack 
of  trained  nurse  deaconesses.  The  cares  of  a hospital  are  very  exacting 
and  the  demands  so  imperative  that  the  Society  could  not  conscientiously 
undertake  such  a responsibility  unless  nurses  were  available. 

In  recent  years  a new  group  of  deaconess  hospitals  has  appeared. 
Among  them  are: 

1.  Holden  Hospital,  Carbondale,  111.,  a gift  from  Mrs.  Carrie 
Holden  in  June,  1913.  It  is  the  only  Protestant  Hospital  in  Southern 
Illinois,  located  where  seventy  trains  daily  make  it  accessible  from  every 
direction. 

2.  The  Methodist  Hospital  at  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  founded  in  1915. 
It  has  a property  value  of  $245,000,  indebtedness  $1  15,000,  annuities 
amounting  to  $12,000,  and  an  endowment  of  $17,750.  In  the  year 
1918  it  had  2,274  patients. 

3.  The  Methodist  Deaconess  Hospital,  Rapid  City,  S.  D.,  opened 
in  1912  at  the  gateway  to  the  Black  Hills,  ministers  to  a large  popula- 
tion, scattered  approximately  over  50,000  square  miles.  A fire  in 
March,  1914,  destroyed  the  Institution,  but  it  was  rebuilt  and  an  extra 
story  added  as  well  as  sun  porches,  fire-escapes  and  elevator  shaft. 

4.  Harwood  Hospital,  later  known  as  the  Methodist  Deaconess 
Hospital,  at  Albuquerque,  N.  M.,  was  the  gift  of  Rev.  Thomas  Har- 
wood. It  is  on  a seven-acre  plot,  one  and  one-half  miles  east  from 


[95] 


Albuquerque,  N.  M.  The  invigorating  air  is  a great  factor  in  restoring 
health  to  its  one  class, — tuberculous  patients.  It  was  opened  in  1912 
with  four  tents,  two  porch  rooms  and  a seven-room  house  for  adminis- 
tration, and  accommodated  five  patients,  all  young  men  from  the  East. 
In  1914  the  hospital  had  four  new  cottages.  Each  was  a square  room 
12x12  feet,  accommodating  one  person  and  costing  $250.  In  1916a 
new  property  was  purchased  with  two  buildings  and  fifty  cottages.  The 
new  administration  building  is  of  Spanish  mission  architecture.  The 
capacity  soon  leaped  from  seventeen  to  fifty.  By  1918  the  hospital 
needed  more  cottages  and  a pavilion.  More  buildings  and  expansion  are 
now  contemplated. 

In  1918  the  Deaconess  Committee  for  Hospitals  became  a Deacon- 
ess Hospital  Bureau. 


[96] 


Oriental  Allies — Hawaiian  Plantations 


Oriental  Homes,  Schools  and  Settlements 


Name 

Oriental  (Chinese) 
Ellen  Stark  Ford 
Katherine  Blaine 
Jane  Couch  Memorial 
Susannah  Wesley 


Location 

San  Francisco,  California 
San  Francisco,  California 
Seattle,  Washington 
Los  Angeles,  California 
Honolulu,  Hawaiian  Islands 


[98] 


VI 


ORIENTAL  ALLIES— HAWAIIAN 
PLANTATIONS 

* * * 

THERE  have  been  many  diverse  opinions  about  the  Orientals  on  the 
Pacific  coast.  Their  condition,  their  characteristics,  their  place  in 
the  nation,  their  property  and  civic  rights  have  been  more  or  less  matters 
of  discussion  and  legislation.  The  larger  number  have  lived  in  San 
Francisco  and  for  many  years  interest  has  centered  around  the  Chinese 
and  Japanese  there.  The  Chinese  have  been  characterized  as  a docile, 
patient,  apt  race.  Their  friends  have  called  them  victims  of  outrages 
inflicted  on  them  through  prejudice.  Certain  it  is  that  they  have  suffered 
boycott,  persecution  and  hard  times.  Whether  the  legislation  was  cruel 
and  hasty,  or  otherwise,  it  embittered  the  minds  of  the  Chinese  both  here 
and  in  China.  The  legislation  which  bore  directly  on  conditions  of 
interest  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  included  the  following: 
( 1 ) All  Oriental  boys  born  in  the  United  States  are  citizens  of  this 
country.  (2)  In  1879  lawmakers  of  the  Golden  State  made  provision 
in  a new  constitution  that  Mongolians  should  never  vote,  classing  Chinese, 
idiots,  insane  people  and  women  in  the  same  category.  To  be  doubly 
sure  they  added  the  clause, — “No  native  of  China  shall  ever  enjoy  the 
elective  franchise.’’  (3)  They  provided  separate  schools  for  Mongolian 
children. 

As  early  as  1884  conditions  in  San  Francisco  had  set  into  a mould 
that  defied  years  of  labor  and  prayers  to  refashion.  The  people  were 
unsettled  for  the  most  part,  single  men  without  homes  or  real  estate,  who 
moved  from  place  to  place  wherever  the  drift  of  employment  demanded. 
In  the  sweatshops  of  Chinatown  patient  women  with  babies  strapped  to 
their  backs  worked  till  midnight  on  overalls  for  ten  cents  a dozen.  Some 
women  were  bound-footed,  some  lived  under  ground  for  six  years.  Mis- 
sionaries wending  their  way  into  all  sorts  of  places  to  nurse  the  sick 


[99] 


stumbled  upon  “ghoulish  chambers  of  silence”  and  found  sick  girls  left 
to  die  between  coffined  corpses  and  boxes  of  dead  men’s  bones. 

In  1900  there  were  5,000  Oriental  women  in  America,  1,500 
slaves  and  200  of  them  little  girl  slaves.  Misery  did  not  fall  on  the  poor 
alone,  for  1,000'  wealthy  women  in  San  Francisco  were  as  pagan  as 
those  in  Tokyo  and  Tientsin.  There  were  working  girls  in  need  of  a 
home  and  incentives  to  live  good,  clean  lives,  and  helpless  girls  appealing 
for  aid,  A practice  somewhat  similar  to  the  American  custom  of  binding 
out  children  till  of  age  was  followed  by  the  Chinese  in  the  United  States, 
but  was  subject  to  many  and  worse  abuses  from  people  untouched  by 
Christianity.  The  blighting  yellow  slave  traffic  had  fixed  its  hideous 
grip  upon  the  lives  of  hundreds  of  innocent  people.  Data  gathered  in 
1902  revealed  the  fact  that  only  ten  per  cent,  of  Chinese  and  Japanese 
children  were  in  school  and  ninety  per  cent,  were  roaming  the  streets, 
absorbing  the  bad  thoughts,  words  and  deeds  of  races  other  than  their 
own.  In  1 904  a great  influx  of  Japanese  girls  gave  a twist  to  affairs  that 
threatened  to  break  down  the  wall  of  defence  built  by  Government  officials 
and  missionaries  alike. 

Tuen  Tson  Hsi,  empress  dowager  of  China,  was  not  a high-born 
lady.  Her  father,  made  poor  by  a rebel  uprising,  was  a rice  planter. 
Great  floods  had  destroyed  the  rice  fields  and  the  family  was  in  poverty. 
One  day  little  Tson  Hsi  suggested  that  her  father  sell  her  and  get  money 
for  food.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a custom  in  vogue  in  China  for 
years.  It  was  transplanted  to  “China  in  America”  and  followed  by 
Oriental  people  dwelling  in  the  land  of  the  free,  six  years  after  the  close 
of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  and  the  abolition  of  slavery. 

Children  were  sold  for  various  reasons.  Merchants  brought  them 
from  old  China  to  serve  small-footed  women  and  bound-footed  children. 
They  passed  from  family  to  family,  from  master  to  master,  and  finally 
arrived  at  places  unfit  for  them.  They  were  sent  into  vile  places  on 
errands,  were  made  to  carry  burdens  far  too  heavy  for  them.  An  infant 
seven  months  old.  Ah  Saw  by  name,  was  sold  because  of  the  poverty  of 
the  parent.  Another  was  sold  to  pay  the  funeral  expenses  of  the  mother. 
A group  of  girls  was  sold  to  pay  off  the  gambling  debts  of  their  fathers. 
Others  were  kidnapped.  Although  these  slaves  were  not  knocked  down 
to  the  highest  bidder,  they  were  sold  through  a system  devised  by  those 


[100] 


who  carefully  evaded  the  law  while  trafficking  in  human  lives.  There 
were  other  slaves  besides  the  children  used  as  drudges  and  cruelly  mis- 
treated by  their  masters.  These  were  the  women  and  girls  brought  over 
to  this  country  for  immoral  purposes. 

A company  of  girls  would  be  brought  to  this  country  expecting  honest 
work  and  find  themselves  sold  to  immoral  lives.  Beautiful  women  brought 
as  high  as  $3,000  in  these  silent  slave  markets  of  an  American  city,  while 
records  state  that  a baby  girl  was  sold  for  $250  from  a brothel.  In 
1902  Japanese  girls  began  replacing  the  Chinese  slaves  because  they 
could  be  smuggled  into  the  country  more  easily  than  the  Chinese.  And 
in  1904  a report  was  made  that  all  the  dens  in  Chinatown  were  being 
filled  with  Japanese  girls, — young,  pretty,  trapped.  Advertisements  in 
English-speaking  papers  of  the  city  were  couched  in  such  language  that 
the  dealer  was  able  to  evade  the  law  against  slavery  in  America.  A 
quotation  in  print  reads  as  follows:  “Stock  in  trade  and  goodwill  of  a 
house  for  sale.  Mine  Law  Nong  Tuck  secretly  escaped  to  China  on  the 
1 4th  day  of  present  month,  leaving  behind  the  whole  business,  stock  in 
trade,  etc.,  of  her  place  in  Sullivan  alley.  If  any  of  our  country  men 
wish  to  purchase  stock  they  may  visit  the  house  and  talk  personally  to 
the  creditors.”  It  was  explained  in  court  that  “stock  in  trade”  meant 
female  slaves.  While  this  notice  did  not  tell  directly  of  women  for  sale, 
any  Chinese  reading  it  would  receive  no  other  impression. 

In  1 869  a few  Christian  people  began  to  “patrol  the  city  of  San 
Francisco  in  search  of  the  lost.”  The  result  was  the  founding  of  two 
rescue  homes  for  women, — one  by  the  Presbyterians,  and  one  by  the 
Methodists.  The  Methodist  Home  for  Orientals  was  established  in  a 
building  belonging  to  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  and  was  under  the  care  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gibson.  This  was 
a rescue  Home.  A few  years  later  a Woman’s  Missionary  Society  of 
the  Pacific  Coast  was  organized,  auxiliary  to  the  Missionary  Society, 
and  existed  until  1893-94,  when  it  went  over  to  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society  with  its  rescue  home,  inmates  and  rescued  girls. 
Meanwhile,  in  San  Francisco,  a Japanese  Home  for  unemployed  sick 
and  homeless  girls  had  been  kept  open.  In  1901  this  Japanese  Home 
was  closed  coincident  with  the  dedication  of  the  new  Oriental  Home  of 
the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  Old  China  had  not  carried 


[101] 


the  custom  originated  by  Tuen  Tson  Hsi  to  the  limit  that  it  was  carried 
in  the  United  States,  for  at  the  dedication  of  the  Oriental  Home,  the 
Consul  General  Ho  Yow  said:  “ Such  traffic  as  is  carried  on  here  in 
Christian  America,  in  China  is  punishable  by  decapitation.” 

The  first  Chinese  Christian  Home  in  Methodism  was  that  of  Jin  Ho. 
One  day,  in  1871,  Dr.  Gibson  was  informed  by  the  police  that  a poor 
Chinese  woman  had  asked  to  see  a “Jesus  man.”  Tired  of  life,  she 
had  cast  off  the  gaudy  ornaments  of  her  unholy  calling,  and  putting  on 
an  old  garment  had  gone  out  at  night  and  jumped  into  the  bay.  She 
was  fished  out  by  a Negro  and  later  was  taken  to  the  rescue  Home  in 
Washington  Street,  by  Dr.  Gibson.  There  she  was  converted;  later 
she  married  a Christian  Chinese,  and  established  a Christian  Home.  The 
lines  of  activity  brought  over  as  Oriental  work  from  the  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Pacific  Coast  were  rescue  work  connected  with  the  Chinese 
and  the  Japanese  Homes  for  unemployed  girls,  teaching  children  in  the 
Chinese  Home,  and  house  to  house  visitation. 

The  rescue  work  of  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  girls  had  all  the  thrills 
of  a perilous  and  exacting  chase.  It  involved  grave  personal  danger. 
It  required  brave,  clear-headed,  strong  women  to  venture  down  alleys 
and  slums  of  Chinatown  where  hard-looking  “ ‘white  men’  were  drunk 
with  Chinatown  whisky,  to  enter  homes  where  slaves,  or  worse,  with 
chalked  faces,  gaudy  silks,  and  bejewelled  head-dresses  sang  lewd  songs 
and  Chinamen  played  mora  and  drank  sam-shu.”  But  the  greatest 
bravery  was  shown  by  girls  from  the  Home  who  would  help  raid  the 
very  homes  they  came  from  in  order  to  save  others.  Between  1 868  and 
1 899,  four  hundred  women  were  rescued,  valued  by  their  owners  at 
$1,000,000.  Some  returned  to  China,  many  married,  others  scattered 
all  along  the  coast  from  Washington  to  San  Diego  and  as  far  east  as 
Lynn,  Mass. 

The  missionaries  from  the  Home,  did  not  go  at  this  work  at  random. 
There  were  definite  ways  of  learning  what  was  going  on,  and  of  going 
about  a rescue.  Sometimes  girls  did  as  Yoke  Ying.  She  told  a friendly 
policeman  her  troubles,  and  showed  the  results  of  cruel  abuse,  and 
knowledge  of  her  situation  was  passed  on  to  the  workers  at  the  Home. 
Again,  the  girls  would  appeal  to  the  rescue  Home  for  protection.  In  a 
fishing  town  one  hundred  miles  from  San  Francisco  lived  a girl  who  had 


[102] 


been  sold  to  a man  for  his  wife,  only  to  find  herself  a slave.  She 
attempted  to  run  away,  but  was  offered  twice  for  sale.  Then  she 
appealed  to  the  rescue  Home.  The  missionary  found  her,  and  both 
women  ran  for  the  Home. 

The  way  by  which  detection  of  a slave  was  eluded  is  seen  in  the 
experience  of  a fifteen-year-old  girl.  She  had  been  sold  to  a Japanese 
creditor  for  twenty-five  dollars.  The  owner  had  agreed  to  give  her  a 
musical  education.  He  failed  in  his  promise  and  the  girl  complained 
about  it.  He  said  that  he  would  send  her  back  to  her  father,  and  put 
her  on  a vessel  supposedly  for  China.  She  was  sent  instead  to  Seattle, 
then  to  San  Francisco,  and  through  to  Los  Angeles,  where  she  finally 
ended  her  trip  in  a questionable  restaurant.  While  toiling  there  until 
three  in  the  morning  she  was  noticed  by  a Japanese  who  took  her  to  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society,  and  they  put  her  in  the  Home  at 
San  Francisco.  The  attempt  of  Bo  Que  to  escape  from  slavery  and 
marry  a man  of  a rival  family  brought  on  the  bitterest  Tong  war  in 
recent  years.  She  finally  married  the  man  of  her  choice. 

The  missionary  at  the  Oriental  Home  heard  of  a girl  in  a notorious 
resort  and  with  proper  police  protection  made  a raid  on  the  place.  When 
the  door  opened  there  was  a scurrying  for  hiding-places.  The  missionary, 
with  a knowledge  of  conditions,  hurried  through  trap-doors  and  under- 
ground passages  till  the  girl  was  found.  She  made  a show  of  resistance. 
She  was  very  beautiful  and  had  been  sold  for  a very  large  sum.  A court 
trial  followed  and  in  the  end  the  girl  was  given  to  the  missionaries. 
Another  was  bought  in  China  by  an  old  cigar-maker  and  brought  to  this 
country  when  nine  years  old.  She  was  a slave.  Beth  girl  and  business 
was  sold  and  the  man  left  for  China.  Once  again  the  girl  was  sold,  this 
time  to  an  old  Chinaman  in  Watsonville,  and  was  about  to  be  delivered 
to  her  new  master.  Her  baby  was  left  at  a hospital  door.  The  mis- 
sionary learned  her  story  and  decided  to  rescue  her.  The  girl  followed 
the  policeman  and  missionary.  A crowd  of  Chinamen  followed  them 
protesting,  but  hardly  daring  to  interfere.  Finally,  much  relieved,  the 
little  party  got  away  in  a cart.  For  two  weeks  the  girl  was  in  a daze. 
Then  she  began  to  understand,  and  grow  happy. 

The  poor  slaves  were  not  always  willing  to  be  rescued.  Nor  did 
they  always  relish  being  fitted  into  a new  system.  One  little  lame  girl. 


[ 103] 


Ah  Gum,  a doorkeeper  at  the  house  of  her  master,  beat  with  her  little 
crutch  the  policeman  who  rescued  her.  She  had  been  told  that  “Gibson 
House”  was  open  to  entrap  girls,  where  they  had  to  work  hard  and  had 
nothing  to  eat.  Yoke  Ying  cried  when  she  saw  them  sewing  for  her, 
because  she  did  not  want  to  wear  English  garments.  For  five  months 
after  the  Home  was  open,  women  looked  shyly  at  it  before  running  to 
it  for  protection.  But  they  found  comfort  and  happiness  and  a Saviour 
through  the  open  door.  A few,  alas!  grew  tired  of  the  Home  and 
eluding  locks,  bars  and  care,  returned  to  bad  husbands  or  a slave’s  life. 
No  matter  where  they  came  from  or  how  little  time  they  spent  there, 
the  girls  in  the  rescue  Home  were  told  the  Gospel  story. 

It  was  customary  to  visit  steamers  arriving  from  the  Orient.  At  this 
time  as  many  as  two  hundred  Japanese  women  were  sent  to  the  United 
States  yearly  under  false  pretense.  Skill  in  reading  situations  was  a 
great  asset  of  the  missionary.  It  was  strenuous  work  and  more  than 
one  trip  to  a steamer  was  often  needed.  The  interpreter  would 
talk  to  girls  and  women  when  there  was  a suspicion  of  irregularity. 
Often,  when  entirely  baffled,  he  would  call  in  the  missionary.  Three 
classes  traveled  as  steerage  passengers:  1.  The  true  family;  2.  Those 
duped  into  pretending  marriage  in  order  to  receive  rich  husbands ; 3.  The 
willing  comers  who  knew  that  they  had  sold  their  lives.  All  might  have 
legal  papers  without  a flaw,  which  would  pass  Government  inspection. 
It  was  known  to  Government  officials  and  the  Society  workers  that  no 
family  girl  ever  came  alone.  The  watchers  also  could  detect  costumes 
that  would  indicate  the  class  to  which  they  belonged.  Sometimes  the 
girls  would  confess.  Again  others  would  not,  and  if  their  papers  were 
correct,  they  had  to  be  landed,  even  though  the  officers  were  sure  they 
were  not  what  they  pretended  to  be.  Many  times  the  girls  were  fol- 
lowed straight  to  a slave  den.  A regular  raid  under  police  protection 
was  the  only  solution  for  a rescue  in  such  a case,  unless  the  girl  herself 
later  sought  refuge  in  the  Home.  Some  detected  ones  were  sent  back 
to  China  only  to  have  the  same  thing  happen  again.  Others  returned 
to  their  native  land  and  never  let  people  know  what  had  happened. 

It  could  not  be  expected  that  women  could  befriend  runaway  slaves, 
snatch  them  from  homes  or  carry  them  away  from  dens  of  vice  without 
coming  up  against  angry  slave  owners,  unscrupulous  lawyers  and  legal 


[104] 


proceedings.  On  the  whole  the  courts  were  the  scenes  of  settlements  of 
all  rescued  cases.  When  they  rescued  babies  the  missionary  would  ask 
the  court  to  grant  her  guardianship  papers  for  the  child.  The  courts 
would  give  the  child  to  the  Home  for  protection  till  the  case  was  settled. 
In  one  case  a ten  months’  old  baby  was  sold  and  given  to  the  missionary 
for  protection.  It  went  out  of  the  Home  after  the  suit  was  settled  and 
was  back  again  for  protection  before  it  was  three  years  old.  The  slave 
owners  would  start  habeas  corpus  proceedings.  In  this  way  six  rescued 
women  out  of  twenty-nine  were  lost  to  the  rescuers  in  one  year.  Again, 
a small  fine  of  $50  did  not  worry  the  owners  of  a beautiful  $3,000  slave. 
The  Omaha  Exposition  gave  great  trouble  to  the  people  who  were 
interested  in  this  rescue  work.  Chit  of  fifty  different  women  in  the 
Oriental  Home,  ten  of  them  were  sent  there  for  a few  weeks  on  the  way 
back  from  the  Exposition.  By  arrangement  with  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment they  were  all  to  go  back  to  China  at  the  close  of  the  Exposition, 
but  by  some  “chicanery  known  only  to  the  bad  Chinese  men  and  to 
still  worse  white  men’’  they  were  lost  in  transit.  The  variety  of  ways  of 
getting  around  the  law  seemed  to  be  as  many  as  their  wicked  deeds.  A 
woman  would  want  to  go  back  to  China  and  pretended  creditors  would 
loom  up  to  prevent  her.  She  would  be  taken  into  the  Home  till  adjust- 
ments were  made  and  protected  till  safe  on  the  steamer.  A girl  fled  to 
the  Home  from  her  owner.  The  next  day  a newspaper  came  out 
with  “Kidnapped!  The  beautiful  daughter  of  Loie  Yick  Riuy.  One 
hundred  dollars  reward  for  return.’’  When  confronted  in  court  the  case 
was  settled  and  the  girl  sent  to  the  Home. 

Never  was  there  a time  when  there  were  not  one  or  more  inmates 
sent  to  the  Home  by  Federal  authorities  for  protection.  They  had  to 
be  guarded  by  lock  and  bars  till  such  a time  as  the  courts  decided  to 
land  or  deport  them.  In  the  winter  of  1 900-01 , agitation  against  slavery 
in  Chinatown  resulted  in  the  arrest  of  fifteen  girls.  Federal  officers 
placed  them  in  the  Methodist  and  Presbyterian  Homes  and  paid  the 
Home  twelve  dollars  a month  board  for  each  girl.  It  was  quite  a task 
to  protect  these  girls.  Two  outside  doors  had  to  be  kept  fast.  Unprin- 
cipled lawyers  employed  by  the  owners  would  obtain  permits  for  them 
to  visit  their  supposed  v/ives,  and  men  would  come  daily  to  talk  with 
the  girls.  This  made  it  necessary  for  one  of  the  Home  girls  and  ore 
of  the  workers  to  be  present  to  listen  to  all  conversation  so  that  no  plans 


[105] 


of  escape  could  be  concocted.  Girls  were  taken  from  the  Home  on 
writs  of  habeas  corpus  by  men  under  bonds  of  $3,000  each,  yet  these 
large  bonds  would  be  forfeited  rather  than  produce  the  girls  in  court. 
Again  it  was  unsafe  for  young  girls  to  come  into  contact  with  these  women 
in  the  schools  and  meetings.  Finally  it  was  evident  that  the  two  kinds 
of  work  should  not  be  done  together. 

Another  arrangement  which  admitted  of  much  fraud  was  the  “picture 
marriages”  practiced  freely  among  the  Japanese.  Large  numbers  of 
brides  would  come  to  Aanerica  to  meet  proxy  husbands.  Although  by 
Japanese  custom  their  marriage  by  exchange  of  photographs  was  valid, 
it  was  not  legal  marriage  over  here.  Therefore,  women  were  turned 
over  by  immigrant  officers  to  the  Oriental  Home  till  a marriage  could 
be  arranged  according  to  American  law.  Sometimes  as  many  as  fifty 
marriages  would  take  place  at  the  Home  in  a year,  so  that  some  wag 
dubbed  the  rescue  Home  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  a 
matrimonial  bureau.  The  Society,  however,  was  true  to  its  mission, 
that  of  home-making,  and  the  Oriental  girls  were  started  right.  In 
3 900,  years  of  work  did  not  seem  to  have  made  much  impression  on 
this  dreadful  condition,  yet  six  hundred  women  had  been  helped  since 
Jin  Ho  was  rescued  from  a watery  grave. 

The  rescue  work  was  preventive  work  and  its  most  important  phase 
was  the  rescue  of  little  girls.  Boys  also  were  taken  into  the  Home  at 
times  while  waiting  for  their  cases  to  be  settled.  This  was  done  that 
they  might  be  kept  from  confinement  with  criminals  in  county  jails.  Yet 
in  summing  up  the  entire  situation,  the  Secretary  for  Oriental  Work  in 
1 900  stated  that  “the  army  of  custom  house  officials,  immigrant  officers, 
the  laws  of  the  land,  the  whole  power  of  the  United  Christian  sentiment 
backed  by  the  moral  sentiment  of  the  entire  community  had  thus  far  been 
but  a portiere  of  cobwebs  across  the  Golden  Gate  so  far  as  excluding 
the  yellow-faced  slaves  is  concerned.” 

The  rescuing  of  Oriental  girls,  if  more  dramatic,  was  no  braver  than 
the  house  to  house  visitation  of  the  faithful  missionary  and  the  interpreter. 
Down  crowded  Chinatown  alleys,  up  rickety  stairs,  through  dark  halls, 
over  floors  grimed  with  dirt  of  years,  past  birds,  parrots,  chickens, 
monkeys  and  children  they  made  their  way  up  to  small,  sunless  rooms 
where  women  sewed  day  by  day.  They  heard  crying  babies,  moans  of 

[106] 


the  sick,  curses,  and  men  and  women  running  from  “the  foreign  devils.” 
But  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  was  convinced  that  “hea- 
thenism in  America  can  never  be  conquered  until  its  homes  are  taken 
for  Christ,”  so  its  missionaries  sought  the  shut-ins,  who,  because  of  rigid 
custom,  could  not  gather  together  in  a public  meeting  or  religious  service. 
“Every  call  to  a Chinese  Home  meant  a separate  and  distinct  congrega- 
tion.” Early  workers  read  from  the  Bible  in  colloquial  Cantonese.  They 
read  simple  Bible  stories,  “The  Sweet  Story  of  the  Cross,”  and  “Peep 
of  Day.”  Simple  as  they  were,  these  stories  had  to  be  read  over  and 
over  again  and  explained  until  the  women  understood  them.  The  friendly 
visitor  also  taught  the  women  lovely  Christian  songs.  She  comforted 
the  sick  and  even  prepared  the  dead  for  burial.  By  1 903  a missionary 
speaking  the  Chinese  language  had  entrance  to  seven  hundred  families 
in  Chinatown. 

A Chinese  Sunday-school  was  started  in  the  squalor  of  Chinatown 
in  1 898.  Each  Sunday  scores  of  men,  a few  women  and  lots  of  chil- 
dren came.  Its  best  worker,  Oi  Yoki,  a gifted  interpreter  of  wonderful 
eloquence,  had  been  a slave  girl  years  before.  The  mothers  did  not  seem 
unwilling  to  have  their  children  go  to  Sunday-school  or  day  school,  but 
were  far  too  indolent  to  look  after  them.  So  the  missionary  would  often 
go  after  the  delinquent  ones,  for  it  was  through  the  children  that  the 
mothers  could  be  reached. 

In  1 898  hardly  a Chinese  child  was  to  be  seen  in  America.  Fifteen 
years  later  there  were  2,000  in  San  Francisco.  “Little  urchins  in  yellow 
blouses,  born  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  who  could  laugh  at  Con- 
gressional legislation  and  closed  and  barred  gates.”  They  were  citizens 
of  the  United  States  and  would  be  voters  when  of  age.  The  question 
arose,  “Shall  these  voters  be  Christian  or  pagan?”  Across  the  vision 
of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  flamed  the  solemn  words, 
“A  heathen  voter  in  Christian  America  is  a monstrosity,”  and  the  women 
said  to  one  another,  “We  must  establish  schools  in  our  Homes  for  Orien- 
tal children  here  in  San  Francisco,  along  the  Pacific  coast,  even  unto 
Hawaii.”  True,  there  were  separate  schools  for  the  Mongolians,  but 
only  ten  per  cent,  were  accommodated.  The  Society  considered  asking 
the  Board  of  Education  to  have  a truant  officer  look  after  those  not  in 
school.  But  if  all  the  youthful  Celestials  had  been  forced  into  school. 


[107] 


the  schools  would  have  been  swamped  for  lack  of  room.  The  school 
buildings  were  located  far  away  from  the  Oriental  Home,  which  made 
it  hard  for  the  girls.  They  were  in  danger  of  being  kidnapped,  espe- 
cially those  who  were  escaped  slaves.  Kindergartens,  too,  were  essential, 
for  small  children  from  Chinese  families  in  the  neighborhood  who  were 
not  old  enough  to  go  to  school  and  who  did  not  understand  English. 
The  rescue  work  was  very  important,  and  house  to  house  visitation  very 
exacting,  but  lack  of  school  facilities  made  it  imperative  that  the  children 
about  the  mission  should  have  religious  and  secular  teaching. 

Oriental  Home — As  the  rescue  work  came  into  the  hands  of 
better  and  more  conscientious  officials  of  the  immigrant  station,  and  doors 
were  opened  more  frequently  to  importuning  missionaries,  the  attention 
of  the  Society  was  called  more  and  more  toward  educational  work.  The 
early  school  passed  along  to  the  Oriental  Home  had  been  conducted  for 
two  sets  of  pupils,  those  resident  in  the  Home,  and  the  neighbors. 
The  missionary  taught  English  and  Chinese  in  the  morning  of  each  day, 
and  made  house  to  house  visits  in  the  afternoon.  Later,  as  classes 
enlarged,  English  was  taught  mornings  and  Chinese  in  the  afternoons. 
Kindergartens  were  established  with  little  chairs  so  fascinating  to  the 
Chinese  children,  and  with  sand-tables  deep  and  wide.  They  were  an 
astonishing  success.  The  older  girls  in  the  Home  helped  with  the  music 
and  acted  as  interpreters,  and  before  long  the  Oriental  Home  had  the 
largest  kindergarten  in  San  Francisco. 

In  1902,  public  schools  for  three  months  were  conducted  in  the 
Home  for  three  hours  a day,  at  no  expense  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society.  This  was  a volunteer  movement  from  the  school  authori- 
ties ; they  furnished  the  teachers  and  the  Society  furnished  the  place.  The 
same  year,  by  invitation  of  the  Park  Commissioner,  all  kindergartens  in 
San  Francisco  were  given  one  day  in  Golden  Gate  Park.  The  Chinese 
kindergartens  of  the  Society  were  invited.  The  superintendent  of  the 
children’s  playground  was  a bit  anxious  about  the  Chinese  children,  but 
they  behaved  so  well  that  they  were  invited  to  come  again.  The  kinder- 
gartens were  always  full.  More  girls  and  women  sought  an  education, 
showing  a breaking  away  from  old  tradition.  Two  girls  from  China 
were  placed  in  the  Home  while  in  America.  The  Chinese  interpreter 
at  Angel  Island  sent  his  daughter  to  the  Home  for  training. 


[108] 


The  Society  passed  on  to  the  opening  of  the  primary  and  grammar 
schools  for  Oriental  pupils.  The  public  high  school  was  open  to  them 
in  1 906,  but  such  privilege  was  useless  without  undergraduate  prepara- 
tion. The  students  were  very  bright,  from  one  little  child  who  at  six 
years  could  read  the  ten  commandments  and  the  twenty-third  psalm  in 
her  own  language,  to  Joseph,  who  went  to  the  University  of  California 
through  a scholarship  to  prepare  for  a medical  course. 

In  1 904  two  girls,  Caroline  Lee  and  Ali  Lin,  took  part  in  a Chinese 
oratorical  contest  before  all  the  Chinese  dignitaries  of  San  Francisco. 
They  were  the  only  girls  among  eleven  contestants.  Caroline  Lee  won 
second  prize  and  Ali  Lin  received  honorable  mention.  It  was  contrary 
to  Chinese  custom  for  girls  to  take  part  in  public  affairs  and  especially 
on  an  equality  with  men.  But  the  girls  were  so  bright  and  so  well 
trained  that  the  affair  gave  the  Home  and  school  prestige  among  the  best 
Chinese  people.  Surely  education  was  the  great  lever  to  lift  the  secretive 
Oriental  from  his  Old  World  habits. 

Chinese  life  in  America  began  to  change  rapidly  by  1913.  Chinese 
girls  could  appear  in  public  declamation  with  approval  of  their  country- 
men; women  could  gather  in  schools  to  study  English  and  religion;  the 
queue  was  seen  only  occasionally  on  a few  old  men,  and  Joss  houses 
were  not  visited  so  generally  for  worship,  but  were  becoming  largely 
show  places  for  tourists.  The  Oriental  Home,  completed  by  the  Society 
in  1901,  was  the  scene  of  activity  for  the  three  lines  of  work  taken  over 
from  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  Homes  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Pacific  Coast.  It  was  a two-story  brick  house,  semi-Spanish  style,  on 
the  northwest  corner  of  Washington  and  Trenton  streets,  and  stood  oppo- 
site the  Chinese  Mission  house  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  where 
rescue  work  had  been  carried  on  for  thirty  years.  It  had  large  parlors, 
dining  rooms,  dormitories,  sick  room,  small  parlors,  a sunny  schoolroom 
and  kindergarten.  It  was  a proud  year  for  the  Home  when  eight  hun- 
dred visitors  registered  in  the  guest  book.  They  came  from  every  state 
in  the  Union  as  well  as  from  Canada,  Honolulu,  Japan,  China,  England 
and  New  Zealand.  Some  were  very  curious.  Others  were  surprised 
that  Chinese  women  or  children  could  learn  English.  All  were  enthusi- 
astic over  the  Home,  its  fine  equipment  and  wonderful  work.  Visions 
of  future  growth  led  the  Society  to  plan  for  spacious  additions,  when 


[109] 


the  earthquake  visited  the  great  city,  opening  up  living  sepulchres  and 
opium  dens  of  Chinatown  to  the  blue  heavens,  destroying  the  pest-holes 
of  sin  along  with  splendid  buildings,  monuments  and  churches.  In 
twenty-four  hours  the  beautiful  Oriental  Home  of  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society,  the  work  of  years,  was  gone.  Teachers  and  mis- 
sionaries who  had  rescued  so  many  girls  from  a.  living  death  were  hard 
put  to  it  to  rescue  themselves  from  falling  stone,  fire  and  the  fiendish 
dangers  that  threatened  the  unprotected.  As  their  building  was  rocking 
and  crumbling  to  pieces  they  and  their  charges  took  refuge  in  the  old 
mission  house  across  the  street,  where  they  spent  the  day.  In  the  evening 
they  went  to  the  home  of  Mrs.  L.  P.  Williams  and  passed  the  night 
there.  Early  Friday  morning  they  started  on  the  long  walk  to  the  ferry, 
reaching  Berkeley  at  four  in  the  afternoon,  tired  and  hungry,  but  safe. 
The  children  were  kept  in  the  homes  of  Americans  until  a home  at  2 1 16 
Spaulding  Avenue,  Berkeley,  Cal.,  was  secured.  Days  of  house-hunting, 
furnishing  and  standing  in  the  bread-line  followed  the  calamity.  Kinder- 
garten children  were  located  at  Oakland,  where  friends  and  teachers 
worked  constantly  to  supply  food  and  clothes.  The  primary  grades  were 
kept  up  to  a standard  at  the  Berkeley  Home,  while  two  girls  entered 
grammar  grade  and  two  entered  Berkeley  High  School.  One  entered  a 
San  Francisco  normal  school  preparatory  to  teaching  in  the  Oriental 
schools  in  the  city.  Steamer  work,  too,  was  very  urgent,  and  the  plucky 
missionaries  never  failed.  Even  though  a better  house  was  soon  found  for 
the  Home  at  Berkeley,  lack  of  room  and  facilities  made  the  rescue  work 
impossible  and  the  Methodists  turned  all  such  cases  over  to  the  Presbyte- 
rian Rescue  Home,  but  not  before  three  little  girls  sold  because  of 
poverty  were  rescued. 

Chinatown  in  San  Francisco  built  up  so  rapidly  that  the  Society  was 
anxious  to  reopen  its  Home  there.  Delay  in  rebuilding  the  Oriental  Home 
at  Washington  Street,  San  Francisco,  was  due  to  trouble  with  the  deeds 
of  the  property.  After  the  fire  and  earthquake,  when  all  the  records 
were  burned,  the  law  required  every  property  holder  to  re-establish  titles 
to  his  property.  This  meant  a delay  of  from  four  months  to  a year.  A 
second  obstacle  was  the  delay  in  getting  an  additional  fifty  feet  of  land 
from  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension.  This  prop- 
erty adjustment  between  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  and  the 

[110] 


Board  was  in  the  fifty  feet  lying  east  of  and  contiguous  to  the  property  in 
Washington  Street,  in  lieu  of  the  Society’s  equity  in  the  old  Mission 
House.  No  contractor  would  take  the  work  till  he  knew  where  the 
money  was  coming  from,  nor  would  banks  or  individuals  loan  money  until 
titles  were  clear.  From  1907  to  1910  the  Society  had  to  wait  patiently 
for  a settlement  of  all  these  vexing  but  necessary  points.  In  1911  the 
new  Home  was  a reality  with  a ninety  feet  frontage  on  Washington 
Street.  It  was  handsome  and  substantial-looking,  a marvel  of  convenience 
and  equipped  for  various  kinds  of  work.  Once  more  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society  demonstrated  its  policy  towards  disaster.  When  a 
home  or  school  went  down  to  destruction  a better  one  arose  from  the 
ruins.  By  1920  the  house  was  fully  paid  for. 

Ellen  Stark  Ford  Home — The  Oriental  Home  was  the  centre 
for  both  nationalities, — Chinese  and  Japanese, — until  1906-07,  when 
the  Ellen  Stark  Ford  Industrial  Home  for  Japanese  and  Korean  Women 
and  Children  was  opened  at  2025  Pine  Street.  Weddings  were  so 
numerous  at  this  house  that  it,  too,  could  be  famous  as  a “marriage 
bureau.’*  The  first  mention  in  the  Society’s  records  of  Korean  women 
is  in  1903,  when  two  Korean  women  and  one  child  made  their  appear- 
ance. They  could  understand  neither  English  or  Chinese  and  were  hard 
to  deal  with.  At  that  time  sixty  Koreans  were  said  to  be  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, a prey  to  the  worst  class  of  Chinese!  A decrease  in  the  number 
of  Japanese  women  began  at  this  time,  owing  to  the  exclusion  law  barring 
Japanese  laborers  from  Hawaii.  Four  years  of  industrial  labor  in  the 
Ellen  Stark  Ford  Home  was  very  gratifying.  They  had  seven  babies  too 
young  to  walk,  fourteen  children  under  nine  years,  while  the  oldest  girl 
was  attending  the  McDowell  School  for  Dressmaking.  They  had  a 
kindergarten  for  the  little  tots,  a school  in  the  Japanese  language  in  the 
Home,  and  a class  in  the  Korean  language.  With  the  immigrant  station 
at  Angel  Island  there  was  no  need  of  steamer  work.  Whatever  was 
essential  was  handled  by  the  deaconesses  of  the  Society,  who  alone  were 
in  touch  with  the  people  at  Angel  Island.  An  addition  was  built  to  the 
Ellen  Stark  Ford  Home  in  1909.  In  1911  the  California  State  Board 
of  Charities,  regulating  all  institutions,  would  allow  no  more  than  forty- 
six  children  in  the  Japanese  Home  in  San  Francisco.  Two  other  Homes 
for  Japanese  on  the  Pacific  coast  are  at  Los  Angeles,  California,  and 
Seattle,  Washington. 


[HI] 


Jane  Couch  Memorial  Home — A missionary  deaconess  was 
working  in  Los  Angeles  in  1903,  and  the  Jane  Couch  Memorial  Home, 
a gift  to  the  Society,  was  used  by  the  Bible  women  and  missionaries  for 
their  home.  They  had  to  conduct  their  kindergartens,  day  nurseries  and 
sewing  classes  in  the  far  parts  of  the  city.  In  1913  the  Home  was 
rented  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  use  two  flats  nearer  the  wholesale 
district  in  order  to  reach  more  children.  This  plan  was  soon  given  up 
and  the  Jane  Couch  Memorial  Home  was  once  more  open  to  the  Japan- 
ese women  and  children  of  Southern  California. 

Katherine  Blaine  Home — This  Home,  at  Seattle,  Wash.,  was 
purchased  in  1911  with  $ 1 ,000  raised  by  Seattle  women  and  $ 1 ,000 
from  the  General  Society.  The  women  had  used  their  last  dollar  in 
buying  their  Home,  so  they  cleaned  and  papered  it  themselves.  They 
gathered  furnitures  from  the  homes  of  local  people.  The  kindergarten 
at  the  Katherine  Blaine  Home  has  been  its  distinguishing  feature,  but 
cooking  classes  and  sewing  classes  for  Japanese  mothers  have  been  very 
successful.  The  Oriental  bureau  has  opened  up  new  work  from  time  to 
time  at  Los  Angeles,  Sacramento,  Oakland,  San  Diego,  and  little  towns 
along  the  Pacific  coast  as  an  urgent  call  came  to  them,  or  when  a chance 
to  make  an  effective  attack  on  heathenism  seemed  opportune. 

From  1 895  to  1 900  it  was  evident  to  those  studying  conditions  along 
the  Pacific  coast  that  the  greatest  work  for  Japanese  women  and  children 
was  logically  where  the  greatest  number  were  congregating, — in  San 
Francisco  and  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  The  earlier  work  of  the  Oriental 
bureau  had  dealt  more  with  Chinese  than  Japanese,  though  a Japanese 
lodging  house  for  unemployed  girls  had  been  kept  at  the  same  time  as 
the  early  rescue  mission  house.  This  was  closed  when  the  bureau  built 
its  own  Oriental  Home  on  Washington  Street.  In  January,  1899,  a 
Japanese  woman,  Mrs.  Takahashi,  began  work  among  her  own  people 
at  Honolulu.  A conservative  estimate  at  that  time  placed  the  number  of 
Japanese  and  Korean  women  in  Hawaii  as  10,000.  They  were  living 
in  huts  out  on  plantations,  with  no  comforts  other  than  the  barest  Japa- 
nese necessities  of  life  demanded.  They  were  victims  of  cruel  abuse 
and  drudging  labor.  Many  were  forced  to  lead  immoral  lives  to  support 
their  husbands.  All  were  the  absolute  property  of  fathers  or  husbands. 


[112] 


When  they  went  into  the  fields  they  were  forced  to  leave  their  young 
children  to  play  about  unprotected,  and  to  grow  up  on  a plane  with  the 
cats,  dogs,  monkeys  and  chickens.  There  were  five  hundred  children  of 
kindergarten  age  in  the  vicinity  where  the  missionaries  worked.  Very 
early  they  learned  the  vices  of  their  parents.  Here,  too,  little  children 
were  sold  for  debt.  In  religion  these  women  were  Buddhists  or  Shintoists. 
They  were  addicted  to  drinking  and  were  confirmed  gamblers. 

The  year  following,  a call  for  help  from  the  brave  little  Home  mis- 
sionary in  this  place  was  answered  by  a Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  deaconess.  The  Chinese  and  Japanese  possessions  had  been 
burned  by  order  of  the  Government  in  an  effort  to  stamp  out  the  plague, 
and  for  a time  seven  hundred  Japanese  women  lived  in  a drill  shed.  For 
two  months  the  deaconess  and  two  Japanese  missionaries  stood  by  these 
poor  women.  After  the  detention  period  was  over  a Sunday-school  was 
organized.  The  needs  for  Honolulu  were  reported  as  follows:  A home 
for  the  workers,  a room  for  day  school  and  sewing  classes,  and  separate 
barracks  or  dormitories  for  working  women  in  the  same  compound.  It 
was  not  the  desire  to  Americanize  the  Japanese  women,  but  to  help  them 
live  up  to  the  best  Japanese  possibilities.  In  1901-02  a house  was 
secured  and  named  the  Susannah  Wesley  Home.  Many  had  to  be  barred 
from  the  Home,  however,  since  they  could  only  receive  those  for  whom 
$5.80  a month  was  provided.  Often  the  tender-hearted  missionaries 
would  use  money  of  their  own  in  an  unselfish  effort  to  help  as  many  of 
their  people  as  possible.  It  was  only  too  evident  that  more  money  and 
more  missionaries  were  needed  for  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
and  seven  stations  where  the  work  should  have  been  supplemented  by 
the  Bible  women  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  Yet 
they  were  forced  to  write,  “We  are  losing  our  efficient  Bible  women!’’ 

At  this  time  the  Japanese  work  in  Hawaii  was  separated  from  the 
Oriental  Bureau  and  placed  with  the  Hawaiian  Committee.  A visit 
from  Bishop  J.  W.  Hamilton  in  1 905  resulted  in  some  wise  changes. 
He  found  the  Home  in  an  unhealthy  locality,  and  assisted  the  women  in 
getting  a new  location.  Through  these  efforts  a fine  property  was 
secured.  It  consisted  of  three  houses  with  fifty  rooms,  well  adapted  for 
the  rescue  home,  children’s  home  and  woman’s  home.  These  houses  soon 


[113] 


filled  up.  Within  three  years  there  were  thirty-one  children,  forty-five 
women  and  twenty-eight  women  refugees  in  the  Susannah  Wesley  Home. 
A gift  of  $5,000  came  to  the  Home  from  the  President  of  the  Bank  of 
Hawaii.  People  of  Honolulu,  recognized  the  value  of  the  work.  In 
1918,  during  the  visit  of  the  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  M.  L. 
Woodruff,  and  the  Bureau  Secretary,  Mrs.  W.  E.  Evans,  a new  prop- 
erty was  purchased  for  the  Susannah  Wesley  Home.  The  location  is 
ideal;  the  house,  though  small,  is  in  good  repair.  A small  building  was 
moved  near  and  put  in  condition  for  some  of  the  children  to  occupy  until 
after  the  World  War.  Hopes  and  plans  are  well  under  way  for  a fine 
new  building  for  the  Home.  Federation  and  co-operation  were  much 
needed  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1911  a meeting 
was  called  of  representatives  of  every  Board  carrying  on  work  among 
Orientals  there,  and  after  two  meetings  a permanent  committee  was  formed 
with  members  named  by  the  respective  Boards.  The  object  in  organiz- 
ing thus  was  to  avoid  duplicating  work  by  different  denominations,  to 
unite  small  missions  into  one  strong  one,  and  to  avoid  waste  of  money 
and  effort.  The  agreement  was  made  that  no  new  work,  especially  in 
country  towns,  should  be  established  without  the  approval  of  this  com- 
mittee. San  Francisco  had  work  for  all  who  were  willing  to  undertake  it. 


[H4] 


Wayside  Stations  In  Alaska 


Alaskan  Mission  Stations 


Name 
Jesse  Lee 

Lavinia  Wallace  Young 
Hilah  Seward 


Location 

Unalaska,  Alaska 
Nome,  Alaska 
Sinuk,  Alaska 


[116] 


VII 


WAYSIDE  STATIONS  IN  ALASKA 

* # * 

THE  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  supplemented  church  work 
in  the  South  with  industrial  Homes ; it  worked  side  by  side  with  the 
church  in  Utah  building  churches,  organizing  Sunday-schools  and  estab- 
lishing missions.  But  in  Alaska  the  Society  preceded  the  church  by  ten 
years,  venturing  into  an  unknown  region,  selecting  the  most  strategic 
location  for  a mission,,  actually  breaking  virgin  sod  with  a plow  that 
Christian  civilization  might  flourish  in  that  neglected  outpost  of  an  indif- 
ferent nation. 

There  were  not  many  people  in  Alaska.  It  was  not  densely  crowded 
with  a heathen  population,  as  many  foreign  countries  were.  This  paucity 
of  peoples  was  due  to  the  lack  of  education.  They  had  no  knowledge 
of  medicinal  herbs  or  healing  clay  like  the  American  Indians.  No  innate 
sense  or  experience  had  given  them  skill  to  protect  their  race.  Without 
medicine  or  doctors  they  readily  succumbed  to  epidemics  and  disease. 

The  Society  first  came  into  touch  with  Alaska’s  need  in  1886, 
through  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson,  the  Government  agent  for  Education  in 
Alaska.  Dr.  Jackson  was  desirous  of  having  the  children  of  the  most 
advanced  people  there  sent  to  the  United  States  for  medical  training,  and 
wanted  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  to  establish  an  industrial 
and  training  school  in  Alaska  to  provide  the  early  education  which  neces- 
sarily must  precede  the  medical.  Not  all  the  natives  were  uncivilized. 
The  Aleuts  were  a capable  and  deserving  people,  superior  to  the  other 
natives  of  the  section.  Years  before  they  had  come  under  the  influence 
of  the  Greek  Catholic  Church  and  the  Russian  Fur  Company.  They 
were  of  good  stock,  of  Japanese  origin,  and  made  the  best  navigators, 
traders  and  accountants.  They  respected  marriage  and  had  in  their 
homes  cookstoves,  granite  ware  and  crockery.  Birka,  on  the  island  of 
Spirkin,  was  noted  for  its  cleanliness,  where  the  Aleuts  had  white- 
scrubbed  and  sanded  floors,  clean  windows  and  neat  bedding. 


[117] 


One  week  after  the  United  States  flag  was  raised  at  Sitka,  along 
with  other  vices  that  claimed  its  protection,  were  two  saloons  and  two 
ten-pin  alleys.  At  another  time  a whole  tribe  of  people  were  in  danger 
of  starvation  because  they  had  sold  their  winter  supplies  in  exchange  for 
whisky,  and  summer  was  past.  Among  the  wild  tribes  were  their  special 
vices  and  heathenisms, — such  as  witchcraft,  polygamy,  exchange  of 
wives  and  infanticide.  The  Aleuts  had  proved,  however,  that  the  natives 
were  capable  of  civilization. 

No  sooner  had  the  Society  accepted  the  call  to  Alaskan  work  than 
it  began  to  “lay  lines  in  different  directions”,  for  entering  upon  the  definite 
task.  Travelers  from/  the  United  States  had  begun  to  “view  Alaska.” 
They  were  amazed  at  the  inexhaustible  supplies  of  fish  on  the  shores  of 
the  new  territory ; gold  and  silver  had  been  discovered.  There  was  need 
of  hurrying  to  Alaska  before  the  vices  of  civilization  got  there.  Further- 
more, Dr.  Jackson  had  promised  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  at 
Unalaska  for  the  Society’s  mission  station  and  arranged  to  appoint  a man 
to  the  place  so  that  the  women  need  send  and  support  the  wife  only. 
But  first  come,  first  served.  Delay  might  destroy  the  opportunity. 

While  chafing  under  the  inaction  of  the  Government  and  irregular 
mails,  the  women  asked  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  to  send  a missionary,  promising  that,  as  in  other  instances, 
the  Woman’s  Society  would  send  the  wife  to  care  for  the  women’s  work. 

Natives  of  Unga  had  built  a school  house  at  that  place  and  a teacher 
had  been  selected  by  the  Bureau  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society,  to  be  sent  by  the  Alaska  Board  of  Education.  Since  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  were  not  regarded  with  much  awe  in  Alaska,  it  was 
neither  wise  nor  prudent  to  send  any  one  without  the  protection  of  the 
Government  or  the  church.  Interest  in  Alaska  was  fanned  by  the 
announcement  that  the  most  western  station  would  be  called  the  Jesse 
Lee  Memorial  Home  and  Industrial  School,  after  the  pioneer  Methodist, 
who  through  courage  and  perseverance  had  planted  Methodism  in  the 
extreme  northwest  of  the  country.  Subscription  blocks  were  issued  and 
shares  in  the  Home  were  sold  for  fifty  cents  a share.  Forty  shares  were 
taken  by  Chinese,  some  in  Chicago,  others  in  Boston. 

While  the  women  “were  practicing  the  patience  of  Job,”  a book  by 
Dr.  Jackson  on  Alaska  had  touched  people’s  sympathy,  and  money 


[118] 


came  in  from  all  over  the  country.  One  woman  sent  a dollar  which  she 
had  saved  for  twenty-five  years  as  a memorial  of  a brother  fallen  in  war. 
Twelve  dollars  and  fifty  cents  came  from  the  sale  of  stones  from  a little 
farm.  A club  of  boys  called  “Alaska  Boys”  earned  money  for  a door 
to  the  new  school.  Some  girls  paid  for  a room.  Two  children  sold  a 
pet  lamb  and  sent  in  their  money.  Desks  were  given,  also  a sewing 
machine.  One  man  promised  an  Estey  organ  when  a chapel  was  built, 
and  $1,000  came  in  to  name  the  little  house  of  worship  the  Eliza  Jane 
Baker  Chapel.  Timber  for  the  Home,  furnishings  and  all  supplies  had 
to  be  shipped  to  Unalaska.  These  supplies  and  shipments  were  to  be 
attended  to  by  Methodist  friends  in  San  Francisco. 

In  1 889  the  Society  announced  “Our  Caleb  and  Joshua  have  taken 
the  promised  land.”  The  Government  appointments  had  come  and  two 
men  had  set  out,  even  though  no  home  had  as  yet  been  provided  for 
them.  Prof.  J.  A.  Tuck  went  to  Unalaska,  Rev.  J.  H.  Carr  to  Unga. 

The  first  Home  filled  up  in  three  weeks  with  the  child  aristocrats  of 
the  place,  one-half  of  whom  were  the  grandchildren  of  the  former  Greek 
priest.  Feeling  just  then  was  running  high  against  the  priests,  and  the 
missionaries  were  inclined  to  believe  that  the  many  delays  had,  after  all, 
brought  them  to  Alaska  at  a providential  moment.  In  August,  1 890, 
lumber  for  the  Martha  Ellen  Stevens  Cottage  at  Unga  arrived  in  Un- 
alaska. It  was  no  sooner  put  up  than  orphans  were  packed  in  like 
sardines  in  a box.  Whether  the  population  was  scanty  or  not,  there 
were  children  aplenty  in  need  of  every  kind  of  devotion.  The  Secretary 
of  the  Bureau  accepted  the  offer  of  a free  trip  to  Alaska  and  left  in  July 
to  look  the  ground  over.  Her  experiences  are  a valuable  record  of  the 
pathos  and  humor  of  the  struggle  to  do  the  Lord’s  work  in  a new  land 
and  under  almost  insurmountable  difficulties.  The  account  runs  in  part 
as  follows: 

“The  first  greeting  of  the  country  was  in  the  eruption  of  its  most 
active  volcano.  A few  hours  later  I was  seated  in  dilapidated  Jesse  Lee 
Home,  surrounded  by  fifteen  girls.  This  school  was  to  be  a Governmenl 
school,  so  had  the  great  sanction  of  the  Bishop.  I had  to  sit  and  see  the 
Bishop  go  through  ceremonies  in  gold-embroidered  satin  robes.  His 
assistant  read  from  the  Bible,  played  charmingly  on  our  Hamilton  organ 
and  sweetly  sang  our  Gospel  hymns.  A dissolute  mother  meanwhile 


[119] 


was  trying  to  induce  her  fourteen-year-old  daughter  to  run  away,  but 
the  Bishop  said  she  must  stay  until  she  was  eighteen,  and  she  obeyed. 
When  they  came  they  were  like  wild  things  with  wicked  little  faces,  but 
now  Parsha,  aged  six;  Tatiana,  nineteen;  and  Parsacovia,  all  are  learn- 
ing to  cook  and  sew  and  play  and  sing  and  hear  Bible  teachings.  Once 
their  homes  were  holes  in  the  ground,  now  they  are  in  a safe  place,  yet 
human  wolves  from  whaleships  and  war  vessels  come  and  gaze  in  the 
windows  or  try  to  talk  through  cracks  and  knot-holes  in  the  fence.” 

A $1  2,000  appropriation  for  Unalaska  was  next  asked  for.  Before 
the  completion  of  the  contract  for  Jesse  Lee  Home  in  1892,  General 
Conference  closed  the  work  in  Alaska.  This  was  harder  to  face  than 
delay  had  been.  Since  the  Womans  Home  Missionary  Society  was 
under  the  constitutional  obligation  to  submit  its  fields  of  labor  and  plan 
of  work  for  the  approval  of  the  General  Missionary  Committee,  they 
presented  the  plans  and  facts  of  the  Alaska  case  as  follows:  The 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  has  two  contracts  for  schools  in 
Alaska,  one  at  Unga,  one  at  Unalaska,  and  has  spent  $8,000  in  build- 
ings and  school  supplies.  The  plans  were  based  on  promises  of  the 
Government,  when  General  Conference  ruled  against  such  co-operation 
and  the  Society  was  informed  that  it  could  not  renew  its  contract.  This 
action  on  the  part  of  General  Conference  was  final.  Because  of  wide- 
spread interest  in  this  work,  a great  many  people  would  be  disappointed 
if  the  work  ceased.  There  were  several  thousand  dollars  in  the  treasury 
for  the  work.  The  Society  could  also  appropriate  a reasonable  amount. 
It  was  respectfully  suggested  that  the  places  where  the  Society’s  missions 
were  located  could  be  attached  to  the  Puget  Sound  Conference.  It  was 
pointed  out  that  while  the  population  was  small,  yet  the  location  was 
strategic.  It  was  an  important  post,  frequented  by  vessels  as  they  plied 
along  the  northern  coast,  and  the  natural  outfitting  station  between  the 
Pacific  and  the  Arctic  oceans.  Both  at  Unga  and  Unalaska  the  Society 
had  a dwelling,  chapel  and  a small  school  house.  When  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  went  into  Alaska  it  was  under  the  impression 
that  the  Aleutian  Islands  had  been  assigned  to  the  church  in  fraternal 
conference  and  that  the  Society  was  carrying  out  the  wishes  of  the  church. 

The  reply  to  this  presentation  was  that  though  the  commitee  appre- 
ciated the  work  which  the  women  had  done,  still  in  view  of  the  small 


[120] 


population  and  the  presence  of  other  denominations  the  church  could  not 
establish  a mission  there  and  the  Society  was  advised  to  drop  the  work. 
They  were  told,  meanwhile,  that  the  Government  would  go  on  with  the 
school.  The  money  unexpended  was  held  until  the  meeting  of  the  Board 
of  Managers,  and  the  women  still  hoped  for  a solution  of  the  problem. 
There  were  supplies  at  Unalaska  to  last  the  year  through,  and  it  took  a 
year  for  the  corps  of  workers  to  receive  the  news.  When  word  did  reach 
them,  they  had  twenty-five  girls  in  the  school  and  dared  not  turn  them 
out  to  be  the  prey  of  bad  men.  So  they  wrote  to  their  own  friends  in 
Maine,  who  sent  them  money  to  go  on  with  the  work.  Finally  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  decided  to  continue  with  the  work 
somehow,  with  the  approval  of  the  Board,  and  laid  upon  Mrs.  Rust  and 
Mrs.  Fisk  the  task  of  opening  the  path  to  Alaska  missions.  The  Gen- 
eral Executive  Committee  also  appointed  a new  committee  for  Alaska, 
with  instructions  to  take  beneficiaries  only,  at  $50  each.  The  Committee 
on  Education  said  that  the  public  schools  in  Alaska  could  not  go  on 
without  the  co-operation  of  a Home.  So  the  women  were  directed  to 
leave  the  furnishing  of  teacher  and  school  supplies  to  the  Government  and 
to  go  on  with  the  Home  at  Unalaska.  This  decision  allowed  the  work 
to  go  on  under  the  requirements  of  church  rules.  It  also  laid  a heavier 
duty  upon  the  entire  constituency,  since  more  beneficiaries  must  be  pro- 
vided for. 

The  revenue  cutter  would  gather  up  children  in  the  North  and  take 
them  to  Jesse  Lee  Home.  In  1 890  they  brought  ten  orphans  from  St. 
Paul’s  Island  and  could  have  brought  thirty  more.  It  was  possible  to 
gather  one  hundred  children  for  the  Home.  Adlooat,  asked  why  he 
came,  replied,  “To  learn  about  God  plenty.’*  The  difficulties  of  the 
missionaries  were  many, — chief  of  which  were  crowded  rooms,  limited 
means,  immorality  among  the  natives  and  sailors,  want  of  sympathy  among 
business  men.  They  were  always  overtaxed.  From  the  very  beginning 
it  was  evident  that  a medical  missionary  was  a necessity. 

In  1 896  the  new  Government  school  building  was  finished  and  also 
the  new  Jesse  Lee  Home,  a strong,  substantial  building  two  stories  high 
with  an  attic.  The  builders  assured  the  missionaries  that  it]  was  well 
built.  Hardly  had  the  carpenters  put  out  to  sea  before  a terrific  wind- 
storm destroyed  the  school  building  and  wrecked  the  Home  so  that  it 


[121] 


was  unsafe.  It  took  some  time  to  have  it  repaired.  Because  of  severe 
northern  storms  they  were  obliged  to  shingle  the  north  side  of  all  buildings 
over  the  weather  boarding  and  set  the  windows  in  lead ; even  the  hennery 
had  to  be  built  double  and  kept  warm. 

The  Government  teachers  proved  to  be  very  good  and  were  a great 
help.  Before  long,  results  of  the  work  were  seen  in  the  advancement  of 
the  pupils.  In  all,  nine  were  sent  to  Carlisle  Indian  School,  one  to 
Chicago,  one  to  Mothers’  Jewel  Home,  one  to  Hagamon,  N.  Y.  Three 
went  back  to  their  people  and  two  married.  Others  went  to  the  United 
States  with  returning  missionaries. 

Between  1905-06  the  Government  schools  were  closed.  This  was 
a heavy  blow  to  Unalaska.  The  superintendent  attempted  to  teach  the 
children  in  the  Home,  but  could  take  no  others.  He  held  half-day  and 
evening  sessions  in  the  dining  room  of  the  Home.  The  only  alternative 
would  have  been  a teacher  and  the  use  of  public  school  buildings. 
Although  prohibition  was  supposed  to  be  in  force,  liquor  came  to  Alaska. 
Traders  came  in  schooners  with  cargoes  of  whisky  labeled  catsup,  Florida 
water,  bay  rum,  pain  killer,  Jamaica  ginger,  rubber  boots,  onions,  sugar 
and  numberless  other  names,  to  avoid  prohibitory  laws. 

Another  grave  crisis  was  imminent.  The  white  people  were  coming 
into  the  country.  Natives  were  helpless  before  the  whites,  who  absorbed 
the  sealeries,  fisheries,  fur  and  deer  industries.  The  missionaries  saw 
that  they  must  create  industries  to  make  the  people  self-supporting.  Those 
possible  were  carpet-weaving,  herding  reindeer,  shoe-making,  and  curing 
hay.  The  Commercial  Company  promised  to  give  Jesse  Lee  boys  pref- 
erence in  the  seal  industries  if  well  prepared. 

At  this  time  one  of  the  missionaries  returned  to  the  States  and  mar- 
ried Dr.  Newhall,  who  returned  to  Alaska  with  his  wife.  This  gave  to 
the  Home  a teacher,  physician,  local  preacher,  and,  above  all,  one  of 
the  finest,  most  faithful  and  versatile  workers  the  Society  ever  had.  There 
had  long  been  a need  for  a small  hospital  at  Unalaska,  for  the  inmates 
of  the  Home,  for  the  natives,  and  for  travelers  who  passed  through 
Unalaska  on  their  way  North.  After  a severe  epidemic  of  measles 
during  which  thirty  people  died  in  the  neighborhood  because  of  lack  of 
care,  after  sick  passengers  from  the  ships  had  been  taken  into  a part  of 
the  Home  for  treatment,  it  was  decided  to  start  building  a hospital  on 


[122] 


the  cottage  plan.  While  plans  were  in  the  embryo  stage,  word  came 
that  the  boat  Homer  was  coming  North  with  a marine  hospital  on  board, 
and  with  workmen  to  set  it  up.  It  would  take  in  everybody,  and  physi- 
cians and  nurses  were  following  on  the  next  boat.  This  put  the  Society’s 
plans  aside  for  a time.  But  later  the  marine  hospital  was  closed, 
physicians  and  nurses  returning  to  the  States.  They  had  treated  no  one 
but  marines.  Dr.  Newhall  then  went  on  with  plans  for  the  hospital. 

The  Hospital  at  Unalaska — In  1904  the  boys’  dormitory  and 
hospital  buildings  were  completed.  The  main  part  of  the  new  building 
comprised  the  dormitory.  The  wings  were  used  for  hospital  purposes. 
In  the  hospital  was  a girls’  ward  with  four  beds ; nurses’  room,  one  bed ; 
tuberculosis  room,  one  bed;  boys’  ward,  four  beds;  a private  room,  one 
bed;  drug  room  and  dispensary, — a great  success,  considering  the  fact 
that  everything  in  the  building  had  to  come  from  the  States,  even  to  the 
rubber  treads  on  the  stairs  of  the  boys’  dormitory.  The  dispensary  was 
named  the  Eliza  Kingsley  Arter  Dispensary. 

In  all  that  northern  territory  there  was  no  other  hospital.  Cases 
ranged  from  earache  to  tuberculosis.  Miners,  woodsmen,  travelers,  sail- 
ors and  natives,  all  were  often  in  desperate  need  of  physical  healing.  Its 
educational  value  also  could  be  enormous  in  this  land,  where  natives 
washed  a new-born  babe,  tightly  bandaged  it  and  hung  it  from  the 
ceiling  for  forty  days,  while  the  mother  went  about  her  affairs  within 
three  days.  During  its  first  year  the  record  stood  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
nine  cases,  six  hundred  and  seventy-three  treatments. 

Since  the  distance  from  the  States  was  so  great  and  the  arrival  of 
supplies  uncertain,  much  had  to  be  done  by  the  Jesse  Lee  Home  family 
to  provide  for  the  long,  cold  winters.  The  summer  was  a busy  season. 
The  Jesse  Lee  Home  boat.  The  Perchment , was  used  daily.  Barrels  and 
donation  boxes  were  brought  from  Dutch  Harbor  to  Unalaska,  sea  shells 
were  gathered  for  use  in  raising  poultry  in  winter;  lumber  for  the  boys’ 
dormitory  and  hospital  was  brought  over.  Driftwood  was  gathered  along 
the  beach.  A silo  was  built,  grass  was  cut  along  the  shores  of  surround- 
ing bays  and  towed  home.  They  rowed  to  berry  patches  and  went  fishing. 
The  boys  rowed  out  the  bay  along  the  Bering  Sea  coast  twenty-five  miles 
to  Visilo,  where  they  caught  with  a seine,  codfish,  calaga,  salmon,  floun- 
ders, halibut,  and  salmon-trout.  They  gathered  kelp  for  use  as  fertilizer 


N23] 


in  the  garden.  They  also  cared  for  the  cows,  “Patience”  and  “Alaska.” 
The  girls  helped  preserve  and  dry  berries,  lay  away  a hundred  dozen 
eggs,  pack  butter  to  supply  the  table,  and  dried  and  salted  down  ten 
barrels  of  salmon  and  herring.  It  was  a thriftily  managed  ranch. 

Living  conditions  on  the  Aleutian  Islands  were  bad  by  1908.  Fox 
hunting  and  seal  fishing  had  yielded  its  life  blood  to  the  greed  of  the 
early  white  pioneer.  It  was  over  with.  It  seemed  that  the  Government 
introduction  of  industries  alone  could  save  the  natives  from  pauperism. 
Their  dwellings  were  unsanitary,  due  to  driving  fogs,  frequent  rains  and 
the  small  amount  of  sunshine.  Tuberculosis  made  terrible  havoc.  The 
lack  of  proper  administration  of  law  made  bold  the  transgressors.  The 
Government  had  provided  schools,  but  had  done  nothing  along  industrial 
lines  whereby  the  people  might  earn  a livelihood.  At  one  time  rumors 
were  heard  of  a plant  for  making  fertilizer  from  whales’  bodies  on  the 
Island  of  Akatan,  but  the  project  was  not  carried  out.  There  was  also 
some  attempt  to  raise  alfalfa. 

Alaska  was  like  no  other  field.  Problems  shifted  and  changed,  but 
like  a leaden  sinker  the  poverty  of  the  natives  was  pulling  them  down 
below  the  level  of  possible  competition  with  the  white  people,  who  were 
seeking  wealth  in  Alaska.  It  did  not  seem  right  that  these  people  should 
be  allowed  to  perish  before  the  onrush  of  civilization.  Given  a chance, 
they  showed  surprising  character,  were  versatile,  with  wide  differentiation 
of  tastes  and  talents. 

Another  problem  was  what  to  do  with  the  girls  who  graduated  from 
Jesse  Lee  Home.  At  first  they  were  sent  to  Carlisle  Indian  School,  but 
no  Alaskans  were  sent  after  1902,  for  the  superintendent  wanted  only 
full-blooded  Indians,  and  the  Aleuts  of  Japanese  origin  were  not  happy 
there.  It  seemed  wise  to  keep  them  home  to  help  with  the  others,  and 
to  train  them  there.  Many  white  men  who  went  to  Alaska  threw  off  all 
restraint  and  looked  upon  the  native  girls  as  their  prey.  A few  were 
placed  in  safe  homes  in  the  United  States.  Some  married  and  lived 
among  their  people.  To  accomplish  lasting  good,  however,  the  solution 
of  their  problems  had  to  be  worked  out  on  Alaskan  soil.  The  teachers 
at  Jesse  Lee  Home  had  long  wanted  their  girls  to  learn  basket- weaving, — 
the  rare  art  of  the  Aleutian  women.  The  native  women  holding  to  it  as 


M24] 


a secret  of  their  own,  had  refused  to  teach  it  to  others.  Not  until  1 909 
did  they  finally  get  a woman  to  teach  the  girls  their  one  exclusive  art. 

A gifted  woman  of  Unalaska  taught  them  fancy  work,  which  they  sold 

later  for  quite  a neat  sum. 

The  life  of  these  people  depended  on  the  next  ten  years  of  service 

to  them,  so  the  missionaries  labored  on.  In  providing  the  Home  and 

teaching  the  boys  useful  trades,  Dr.  Newhall  had  to  be  a fisherman 
with  a knowledge  of  boats,  traps,  seines,  salting,  drying  and  smoking  fish ; 
a carpenter,  painter  and  blacksmith;  pumpman,  physician,  surgeon,  vil- 
lage counsellor,  farmer,  lawyer  and  accountant.  His  wife  was  an  expert 
in  looking  after  sick  babies,  making  blouses  for  twenty  boys,  darning 
stockings,  drilling  children  and  visiting  in  the  village.  And  the  army  of 
Home  mission  workers  in  the  United  States  industriously  collected  money, 
purchased  and  sent  one  hundred  yards  of  wire  fencing,  croquet  sets,  tennis 
balls  and  racquets,  blacksmith’s  outfit,  turning  lathe,  heavy  hardware, 
large  vise,  nine  cases  of  heavy  overshoes  and  rubbers,  besides  the  usual 
supplies  of  foodstuffs  and  clothing.  When  supplies  first  started  to  Un- 
alaska the  Commercial  Company  carried  the  freight  very  cheaply.  In 
1902  the  company  changed  hands  and  no  consideration  was  given  the 
mission.  The  girls  at  Jesse  Lee  Home  earned  money  from  the  sale  of 
fancy  work  for  the  setting  up  of  new  gasoline  pumping  apparatus. 

In  1917  all  were  saddened  by  the  death  of  Mrs.  Newhall,  who  had 
given  her  best  years  to  the  family  at  Unalaska.  During  the  war,  news 
from  Alaska  was  very  irregular.  There  was  no  regular  mail  boat.  Tons 
of  mail  were  stored  up  in  old  buildings  at  different  stations  within  six  or 
seven  hundred  miles  of  the  mission  station.  The  Society  only  heard  occa- 
sionally from  the  Home  through  fishing  boats  or  a coast  guard  steamer, 
or  by  wireless  telegrams.  All  this,  with  the  high  cost  of  living,  presented 
a serious  problem  for  Alaska.  So  urgent  had  the  situation  become  by 
1920  that  the  Society  included  this  field  in  its  special  survey  and  recon- 
struction program. 

Lavinia  Wallace  Young  Mission — After  a very  wonderful 
revival  at  Nome,  a chapel  was  decided  upon.  Just  then  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension  passed  resolutions  that  the  church 
property  at  Nome  (once  used  for  white  people)  should  be  leased  to  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  for  one  dollar  a year,  the  Woman's 


[125] 


Home  Missionary  Society  to  keep  said  property  in  repair.  Thus,  on 
October  16,  1913,  the  Society  came  into  the  possession  of  a church  and 
parsonage  buildings. 

Nome  was  the  Mecca  of  Alaskan  Eskimos.  One  thousand  came  in 
during  the  winter.  Five  hundred  remained  in  summer.  In  this  day  of 
establishing  social  settlements  and  Americanization  centres,  it  may  be  a 
surprise  to  know  that  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  in  1914 
built  a large  gymnasium  for  athletic  meets  on  a plot  of  ground  in  Nome, 
Alaska,  known  as  the  Sandpit. 

Missionaries  on  furlough  began  soliciting  money  for  this  enterprise. 
They  planned  the  building  large  enough  for  the  natives  to1  gather  there 
for  reports  from  reindeer  and  dog  races  held  every  winter,  instead  of  at 
saloons.  When  finished  the  gymnasium  had  in  addition  a storeroom, 
housekeeping  rooms,  and  a gallery  for  spectators  at  meets,  etc. 

Next,  the  workshop  grew  too  small.  They  had  to  use  a missionary’s 
room  for  sewing,  knitting  classes  and  dressmaking.  So  the  business  men 
of  Nome  presented  a workshop  to  the  mission.  Across  the  happy  accounts 
of  success  came  the  sad  news  that  the  New  Jersey  had  been  lost  in  a 
storm  at  sea  with  all  on  board.  No  one  ever  knew  how  it  happened. 
The  great  event  of  1916  was  the  arrival  of  the  new  boat,  Jewel  Guard , 
a gift  from  the  Home  Guards  and  Mothers’  Jewels  of  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society. 

The  year  1917  saw  the  opening  of  the  Maynard-Columbus  Hospital 
at  Nome  in  connection  with  the  mission.  This  was  made  possible  through 
a gift  by  Mr.  Horace  Maynard  of  Columbus,  Ohio.  Between  1913-18 
the  Society  at  Nome  secured  for  the  mission  five  buildings,  a church, 
parsonage,  gymnasium,  workshop  and  hospital.  Surely  God  blesses  the 
work  in  difficult  places.  The  Eskimos  love  their  church  and  crowd  it  to 
the  doors,  especially  at  Christmas  and  Easter  time,  when  they  come  long 
distances  on  their  dog-sleds. 

At  Nome,  in  1919,  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight  Eskimos  died  of 
influenza.  As  a result  of  this  disaster  eighty-nine  orphans  were  taken 
into  the  mission.  The  large  gymnasium  was  converted  into  an  emergency 
orphanage,  and  teachers  of  Sinuk  and  Nome  worked  together  in  heroic 
effort  to  carry  on  the  work  under  heart-rending  conditions. 


[126] 


HlLAH  SEWARD  Home — When  the  Society  sent  its  first  missionaries 
to  Unalaska  to  labor  among  the  Aleuts,  people  could  reasonably  have 
felt  that  they  had  gone  as  far  north  as  possible.  But  during  the  years 
that  Jesse  Lee  Home  was  aiding  the  Aleuts!  in  their  pathetic  struggle  to 
keep  a grip  on  life,  Alaska  developed  marvelously.  Towns  became 
permanent,  schools  were  established,  sulphur  mines  ten  miles  away,  at 
Mount  Makustia,  and  quartz  mines  five  miles  away,  were  opened.  A 
railroad  was  built  to  the  Yukon  Valley.  The  Cape  Nome  district, 
where  the  ocean  shore  was  graveled  with  gold,  became  one  of  the  most 
productive  gold  fields  on  earth.  Outgoing  and  returning  miners  and 
travelers  to  that  region  stopped  at  the  door  of  the  mission  station  on  the 
Aleutian  Islands. 

Among  those  who  went  out  from  Unalaska  were  two  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society  missionaries,  who  established  a mission  station  on  the 
shore  of  Bering  Sea  at  Sinuk,  near  Nome,  Alaska.  Their  work  was  to 
be  among  Eskimos,  a people  of  distinct  personality,  who  had  never 
come  under  the  influence  of  the  Greek  Church  and  who  quickly  became 
good  Protestant  Christians.  There,  in  a country  where  they  must  wear 
furs  out  of  doors  and  sleep  in  a fur  bag,  where  thq  ground  never  thawed 
though  the  June  sun  shone  on  it  twenty-two  hours  of  the  day,  living  in  a 
log  cabin  for  a year,  and  later  in  rooms  of  the  public  school  house,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Sellon  started  to  “make  a community”  out  of  a few  hundred 
Eskimos  whose  chief  occupation  was  fishing  and  roaming  the  frozen 
shore  of  the  sea.  The  children  of  these  people  were  left  at  Sinuk  by 
their  parents,  while  they  departed  for  the  summer  fishing.  These,  along 
with  little  orphans,  furnished  the  pupils  for  the  mission  school. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  development  of  the  Eskimo  as  a child  of  his  own 
people,  the  missionaries  had  indenture  papers  made  out  so  that  during 
the  summer  season  the  children  would  go  with  their  parents,  to  keep 
in  touch  with  the  life  of  their  people.  It  took  a long  time  for  the  Home 
to  materialize.  Only  one  freight  boat  left  Seattle  for  Sinuk  in  a year. 
All  the  material,  stoves,  fuel,  furniture,  a year’s  supply  of  groceries 
for  missionaries  and  apprentices,  had  to  be  sent  then  from  the  United 
States.  The  Hilah  Seward  Industrial  Home  and  Orphanage,  named 
after  Secretary  Seward’s  cousin,  was  completed  in  1907.  The 
walls  had  to  have  five  thicknesses  of  timber  and  building  paper.  Out- 
side doors  had  to  have  storm  porches.  All  the  windows  were  double. 

[127] 


The  chimneys  were  lined  with  cement  to  make  them  fireproof.  A scien- 
tific ventilating  system  was  always  necessary  where  Eskimos  congregated. 
The  home,  located  a few  feet  away  from  the  Government  building,  con- 
tained a chapel,  eight  rooms,  a dispensary,  dormitory,  a bath  room 
and  closets. 

Three  hundred  more  Eskimos  lived  eight  miles  away  at  King  Island, 
so  as  to  be  there  in  the  spring  when  walrus  and  other  game  came  floating 
down  on  ice  floes  from  the  Arctic  seas.  The  missionaries  were  desirous 
of  getting  those  people  to  locate  at  Sinuk  so  the  children  could  attend 
the  mission  school.  The  only  way  was  to  have  a boat  large  enough  to 
carry  the  men  from  Sinuk  to  King  Island  promptly  when  the  game 
appeared,  and  then  they  would  be  content  to  live  at  Sinuk.  The  women 
of  the  New  Jersey  Conference  sent  money  for  the  boat  as  their  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  present.  The  Nerv  Jersey  was  built  at  Seattle  and  taken 
to  Sinuk.  It  no  sooner  touched  the  water  than  the  delighted  Eskimos 
swarmed  over  it.  A captain  for  the  boat  was  elected.  Then  they  went 
immediately  up  the  coast  for  a whale  which  had  been  cast  ashore,  and 
buried  it  deep  in  the  ground  to  be  used  in  winter  for  dog-meat. 

The  far-seeing  missionaries  realized  that  some  industry  must  be  devel- 
oped among  the  Eskimos  just  as  among  the  Aleuts.  They  selected  deer 
herding  as  the  most  acceptable  and  profitable  industry  for  Sinuk  and 
Nome.  They  arranged  to  borrow  one  hundred  reindeer  from  the  Gov- 
ernment and  in  return  promised  to  furnish  three  Eskimo  boys  for  each 
hundred  reindeer,  to  be  trained  in  the  care  of  reindeer  by  the  best  Gov- 
ernment herder, — a Laplander,  by  name  of  Dunnak.  The  cost  of  caring 
for  the  apprentice  was  five  dollars  a year.  So  down  in  the  States  were 
children  and  women  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  “buying 
reindeer”  at  five  dollars  apiece.  As  the  herd  increased  the  new  animals 
belonged  to  the  Society  and  apprentices.  The  deer  herding  was  very 
successful.  In  1913  they  had  four  hundred  and  forty-six  reindeer  in 
the  herd.  Six  families  had  entered  the  industry.  The  herd  receipts  for 
1915  were  $500.  Late  reports  say  there  are  40,000  reindeer  in  Alaska, 
two-thirds  of  which  belong  to  the  natives.  Sinuk  Mission  had  three 
hundred  and  forty-one,  one-half  of  which  belong  to  the  apprentices.  In 
1918  one  hundred  little  fawns  had  come  to  the  herd. 

The  Eskimos  are  very  fond  of  music,  so  a plea  for  second-hand 


[128] 


musical  instruments  was  made.  Within  a year  after  Hilah  Seward 
Home  was  built  word  came  that  the  chapel  was  too  small,  that  hundreds 
of  Eskimos  were  turned  away.  The  boat,  too,  was  doing  good  service. 
In  I 9 1 3 an  Eskimo  boy  who  had  been  the  engineer  of  the  boat  was  sent 
to  Tacoma  by  the  Government  to  study  engineering.  A church  had 
been  organized  by  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society, — the  first 
Eskimo  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Alaska, — with  Dr.  John  Par- 
sons, superintendent. 

The  Eskimos  had  been  encouraged  to  dry  berries  and  walrus  meat 
so  as  to  prepare  for  winter.  They  put  the  dried  berries  in  a bag  made 
of  the  skin  of  a seal,  and  buried  walrus  meat  and  berries.  In  1913, 
during  a terrible  storm,  berries,  walrus  meat  and  nearly  all  supplies  were 
washed  out  to  sea.  The  Home  was  damaged  and  part  of  the  coal  was 
lost  also.  One  thousand  dollars  was  hurriedly  borrowed  and  dispatched 
at  once  to  the  mission  at  Sinuk  and  disaster  was  averted.  During  the 
year  1919  influenza  at  Sinuk  swept  away  half  the  population  of  the  vil- 
lage, together  with  five  victims  from  the  Seward  Home  and  Orphanage. 
This  tragedy  was  followed  on  August  29  by  a fire  which  destroyed  the 
entire  building  and  contents.  Two  little  children  perished  in  the  flames. 
The  rescued  children  and  teachers  were  taken  to  Nome,  where  they  were 
cared  for  in  an  emergency  orphanage.  The  Society  was  once  more  face 
to  face  with  the  task  of  rebuilding  after  a fire. 

The  success  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  in  Alaska 
has  depended  very  much  on  the  personal  equation.  The  calibre  of  the 
missionary  has  been  the  making  of  Jesse  Lee  Home,  of  Hilah  Seward 
Home  and  Lavinia  Wallace  Young  Mission.  The  work  is  so  hard  in 
Alaska  that  three  years  is  all  that  is  safe  for  a worker  without  furlough. 
During  the  years  they  were  often  in  danger  of  being  sacrificed  by  over- 
work. Again  and  again  some  of  them  returned  to  the  beloved  field. 
They  passed  through  years  of  privation.  The  inability  to  keep  in  touch 
with  the  home  land  could  but  be  wearing.  Mails  came  but  occasionally, 
sometimes  not  for  a year.  When  the  boat  arrived  the  school  closed  and 
the  whole  village  went  for  the  mail.  The  boat  stayed  but  two  hours, — a 
scant  time  to  read  the  precious  packet  of  letters  and  write  an  answer  for 
the  returning  boat.  Such  an  experience  is  like  the  sudden  opening  of  a 
beautiful  vision  and  sudden  closing  again.  It  crushes  enthusiasm,  cuts 
into  the  vitality  of  life,  and  ages  the  body  of  the  missionary. 

As  some  one  has  said,  “It  takes  grit  and  grace  and  gumption  to  work 
in  Alaska.  r ion  i 


Border  Schools — Spanish-American 


Spanish- American  Homes,  Schools 
and  Settlements 


Name 

Harwood 

Mary  J.  Platt 

Frances  De  Pauw 

Rose  Gregory  Houchen 

George  O.  Robinson  Orphanage 

McKinley,  Woodruff,  Fisk,  and  Williams 
Day  Schools 


Location 

Albuquerque,  New  Mex. 

Tucson,  Arizona 

Los  Angeles,  California 

El  Paso,  Texas 

San  Juan,  Porto  Rico 

Porto  Rico 


[132] 


VIII 


BORDER  SCHOOLS 

* * * 

SPANISH-AMERICAN 

IF  the  energy  and  perseverance  that  characterizes  the  constituency  of 
the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  could  have  been  injected  into 
the  Mexicans  and  Spanish-Americans  on  our  border,  there  might  have 
been  a record  of  innumerable  achievements  after  thirty  years  of  faithful 
labor.  When  the  environment  and  type  of  people  arel  taken  into  con- 
sideration, the  four  peaks  of  accomplishment  in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona 
stand  high  as  evidence  of  what  initiative,  skill  and  divine  guidance  can 
do  in  a land  where  leisure  is  a necessity,  ignorance  is  bliss,  and  poverty 
the  rule  of  the  day.  When  missionaries  went  into  that  field  of  work  they 
found  mostly  small  towns,  mining  camps,  and  herders’  ranches  scattered 
over  the  land.  They  saw  Indians,  Spanish-Mexicans  and  Chinese,  with 
adherents  of  Mormonism  and  Romanism.  The  work  was  a long  time 
in  getting  established,  since  the  people  would  not  be  hurried.  Mission- 
aries had  to  wrestle  with;  conditions  born  of  baffling  Orientalism,  con- 
tentment, prejudice,  climatic  difficulties,  crossing  of  breeds,  and  many 
years  of  no  education,  or  educational  effort.  The  usual  methods  of 
opening  work,  applied  in  other  mission  fields,  were  of  little  avail.  The 
people  did  not  care  for  kindergartens  for  their  children,  they  did  not 
approve  of  day  schools,  and  resented  any  stimulus  to  active  labor.  It 
took  fifteen  years  before  they  accepted  education  as  necessary  training 
for  their  youth.  Bible  women  and  schools  were  the  initial  needs  of  these 
people.  The  Society  had  one  Bible  reader  who  read  the  Bible  in 
Spanish  and  two  teachers  in  Albuquerque,  in  1887.  The  call  was  for 
two  women  for  Spanish,  two  for  English,  and  two  for  Indian  work. 

Harwood  Industrial  School — The  first  Industrial  School  was 
opened  in  a rented  house  at  Albuquerque,  N.  M.  Six  years  later  an 
eligible  site  was  secured  for  the  Home  while  the  mission  school  opened 
in  connection  with  Albuquerque  College.  The  progress  was  necessarily 


[133] 


slow,  but  by  1 896  the  Home  was  dedicated.  Everybody  took  an  interest 
in  this  new  building.  Mexican  friends  helped  irrigate  the  grounds  so  a 
garden  and  fruit  trees  would  grow.  The  telephone  company  of  Albu- 
querque put  in  a telephone  free,  business  men  sent  checks  to  help  out. 
Conference  auxiliaries  furnished  desks  for  the  school  room,  maps,  charts 
and  blackboards.  Kindergarten  chairs  arrived  a year  later.  From  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  auxiliaries  sent  gifts  to  Harwood  Home. 

The  girls  who  entered  Harwood  were  intellectually  slow.  They 
were  devotional  as  a race  and  soon  became  a credit  to  the  workers.  As 
they  stayed  in  the  school  and  became  more  mature,  their  progress  was 
more  rapid.  Roses  in  the  garden  grew  apace  with  those  in  the  school. 
The  Home  yearly  became  more  attractive  and  more  girls  enrolled.  In 
September,  1 900,  they  came  in  various  ways,  on  foot,  in  wagons  and 
during  fair  week  when  rates  were  low,  they  came  by  train.  They 
crowded  the  house  so  that  rows  of  little  beds  were  placed  in  the  attic  to 
accommodate  all  of  the  sixty-three  girls. 

The  much  needed  addition  to  the  Home  was  completed  in  1905, 
and  its  name  announced  as  Harwood  Industrial  School.  That  same 
year  a hospital  for  contagious  diseases  was  placed  on  part  of  the  land 
at  Albuquerque.  An  exhibition  of  pupils’  work  at  the  Territorial  Fair 
caused  an  increase  of  paying  pupils.  Thirty-one  beneficiaries  had  been 
in  the  school  since  1 899.  The  fine  school  room  was  the  pride  of  Har- 
wood. The  sewing  course  was  very  thorough,  and  by  and  by  girls 
began  to  go  to  more  advanced  schools.  One  girl  went  to  Kansas  City 
to  train  for  deaconess  work  among  her  people.  A high  school  course 
was  added  to  the  curriculum,  but  later  withdrawn.  Harwood  Industrial 
School  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  state.  Of  forty-five  girls  in  1 908  one- 
third  were  self-supporting. 

Improvements  were  made  in  third  floor  dormitory,  plumbing,  a heat- 
ing system,  electric  lights  and  fire-escapes  have  been  added  to  the  building. 
The  latest  news  from  Harwood  announces  the  largest  graduating  class 
in  its  history  with  sixty-one  girls  enrolled  for  its  coming  year.  Spanish 
people  are  now  more  able  to  pay  for  their  girls’  schooling.  English  for 
Mexican  children  coming  from  over  the  border  is  essential  in  order  to 
train  them  for  earning  a living.  The  present  needs  of  Harwood  are 
room  and  equipment. 


[134] 


Las  Vegas  Mission — Among  early  attempts  to  establish  missions 
was  that  of  Las  Vegas,  where  in  1893  the  Society  had  a day  school  of 
pupils  of  all  ages,  from  childhood  to  adults,  all  there  to  learn  English. 
Fifty-five  were  in  the  day  school.  Thirty-three  were  in  sewing  classes. 
Cooking,  too,  was  taught.  The  winter  enrollment  was  large,  but  in 
spring  the  people  went  away.  In  1 900  a small  cottage  for  workers  was 
opened,  with  kindergarten,  sewing  classes  and  workers*  meetings.  Later 
this  was  used  as  a home  for  invalid  workers. 

Mary  J.  Platt  Industrial  School — In  1 904  Las  Vegas  Mis- 
sion was  closed  and  transferred  to  Tucson,  Ariz.  This  was  a fortunate 
move.  Tucson  was  a beautiful,  growing  city.  Arizona  was  a large 
field.  Spanish  girls  were  in  need  of  educational  opportunities.  Even 
the  women  from  Old  Mexico  could  take  advantage  of  this  school.  In 
1906  the  mission  was  moved  to  a house  where  a small  school  could  be 
opened.  As  the  school  grew  the  English-speaking  church  gave  the 
mission  a tent.  This  was  used  as  a school  room  by  day  and  a dormitory 
at  night.  A fine  plot  of  land  was  secured,  and  plans  for  a building  of 
Spanish  design  were  ready  long  before  sufficient  money  was  secured  for 
the  Home.  Even  in  that  beautiful  out-of-door  land  it  was  uphill  work 
teaching  in  a tent,  meagerly  furnished  with  borrowed  benches.  The 
Board  of  Education  finally  lent  a small  building  which  had  been  the  old 
high  school  building.  It  was  used  for  the  school,  while  girls  and  teachers 
still  slept  in  the  tent,  and  before  relief  came  they  placed  beds  on  the  porch 
behind  the  tent  and  in  the  sitting  room  of  the  small  cottage.  The  large 
family  spent  the  first  year  in  the  Mary  J.  Platt  Industrial  School  with 
little  furniture  and  amid  the  confusion  of  installing  a furnace.  Proof 
that  underneath  the  calm  exterior  of  indolent  people  the  leaven  of  ambi- 
tion was  doing  its  perfect  work  can  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  teacher 
for  the  little  ones  was  a Mexican  girl,  a graduate  of  Folts  Institute,  that 
twenty-seven  children  were  in  the  kindergarten,  that  by  1914  one  hun- 
dred girls  had  enrolled  in  the  Industrial  School,  that  the  people  of  Tucson 
were  proud  of  their  “school,”  and  pupils  were  going  to  Harwood  and 
Kansas  City  for  advanced  training. 

A new  sleeping  porch  was  added  to  the  building  in  1917  to  relieve 
the  congestion.  People  fleeing  across  the  border  into  Arizona  have  filled 
the  school  to  overflowing  during  the  last  few  years.  Girlsi  come  who 


[135] 


can  neither  read  nor  write  English,  and  once  in  a while  one  who  cannot 
read  Spanish  finds  her  way  there. 

Frances  De  Pauw  Industrial  School — The  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society  made  its  first  appropriation  to  Spanish  work  in  the 
Southern  California  Conference  in  1 898.  As  frontier  work  the  Society 
supplemented  the  salary  of  the  pastor  at  Ventura  Mission,  and  aided  in 
the  construction  of  the  church  edifice  at  El  Rio,  at  that  time  the  only 
Spanish  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

The  Spanish  people  had  been  citizens  of  the  United  States  for  fifty 
years,  but  had  not  been  well  churched  like  the  English  people  who  lived 
in  this  part  of  the  golden  West.  Most  of  them  were  a mixture  of  Spanish 
and  Indian  blood.  The  girls  were  very  pretty,  sympathetic  and  ignorant. 
Their  surroundings  were  not  favorable  to  advancement  nor  conducive  to 
fine  living.  There  was  need  of  a place  to  shelter  and  educate  this  class 
of  girls  as  well  as  the  daughters  of  converted  Spanish  families.  In  1 900 
a house  was  provided  by  Mrs.  F.  W.  De  Pauw,  furnished  by  the  South- 
ern California  Conference,  and  its  support  guaranteed  by  the  Board  of 
Managers.  Such  were  the  beginnings  of  the  Frances  De  Pauw  Industrial 
School  for  Spanish  girls.  The  school  outgrew  the  house  in  two  years. 
Then  a new  building  was  erected  on  an  acre  of  ground  outside  the  city 
limits  of  Los  Angeles,  but  near  enough  for  a five-cent  carfare.  From 
the  main  building,  62  x 73  feet,  the  view  of  the  mountains  and  Cah- 
menga  Valley  is  incomparable.  The  Home  contained  twenty-one  rooms 
besides  an  overflow  dormitory  in  the  attic.  The  large  school  room  was 
on  the  first  floor.  Here  the  Spanish  girls  lived  happy  and  industrious 
on  five  dollars  a month.  Outside  of  school  hours  they  cooked,  scrubbed, 
washed  and  ironed.  The  San  Francisco  earthquake  taxed  their  sympa- 
thies. They  sewed  on  new  garments  and  added  some  from  their  own 
scant  wardrobes  for  the  unfortunate  in  the  stricken  city.  They  also  prayed 
for  the  safety  of  “Maria,”  one  of  the  girls  who  was  living  there.  Hope 
of  an  annex  in  1908  took  shape  in  a new  building  completed  in  1912, 
and  a hospital  ward.  Two  years  later  a sleeping  porch  was  added.  In 
spite  of  a good  equipment  and  loyal  teachers  the  work  increases  in  diffi- 
culty as  the  number  of  refugees  from  over  the  border  grows  larger.  Girls 
have  been  turned  away  for  lack  of  room,  at  other  times  for  lack  of  sup- 
port. There  is  often  danger  of  turning  them  away  for  both  reasons.  The 


[136] 


course  of  study  offered  by  this  splendid  school  is  as  follows:  School 
work  from  first  to  eighth  grade,  music,  instrumental  (piano,  organ,  guitar, 
mandolin),  vocal,  industrial  training,  laundry  work,  cooking,  gardening, 
sewing,  dress-making  and  embroidery. 

De  Pauw’s  last  graduates,  five  in  number,  enrolled  in  the  Deaconess 
Training  School  at  San  Francisco.  Their  course  there  includes  kinder- 
garten, domestic  science  and  evangelistic  work. 

Rose  Gregory  Houchen  Settlement — Missionary  attempts 
were  made  at  Candelarias  and  La  Cruces,  but  gradually  these  places 
were  abandoned  and  work  centered  around  El  Paso,  Texas.  This  town 
is  the  gateway  to  Old  Mexico  and  is  crowded  with  the  class  which  needs 
Christian  ministrations.  The  mission  opened  in  1 899  with  seventy-five 
pupils.  A girl  from  Harwood  assisted  the  worker  for  two  years.  The 
public  schools  improved,  so  stress  was  laid  on  industrial  and  missionary 
teaching.  In  1901  the  work  was  suspended  for  a year,  and  in  1904  it 
was  halted  until  it  could  be  suitably  housed.  Although  the  Society  had 
ground  for  the  house  in  1 906,  the  much  coveted  building  was  not  com- 
pleted until  1913.  The  condition  at  El  Paso  demanded  the  settlement 
type  of  work  rather  than  an  Industrial  Home.  The  Rose  Gregory 
Houchen  Settlement  House  opened  its  doors  prepared  for  kindergartens, 
workers’  meetings,  industrial  classes  and  social  clubs.  Here,  amid  unset- 
tled conditions  and  border  raids  and  typhus  fever,  deaconesses  and  mis- 
sionaries have  worked  on.  Through  the  kindergarten  the  parents  are 
reached,  who  come  to  hear  the  children  sing  and  to  watch  them  at  their 
games.  The  Christmas  and  Easter  celebrations  have  become  community 
affairs.  Boys’  clubs  with  lessons  in  Sloyd  have  been  added.  After  the 
typhus  epidemic  people  from  the  Mexican  quarter  of  the  town  gladly 
availed  themselves  of  the  shower-baths  in  the  basement  of  the  settlement 
house. 

Not  only  did  influenza  claim  its  victims  in  northern  Alaska,  it  placed 
its  deadly  grip  upon  two  teachers  and  many  pupils  of  Rose  Gregory 
Houchen  Settlement  at  El  Paso.  The  Settlement  House  was  closed 
during  the  epidemic  and  the  workers  did  volunteer  service  at  the  emer- 
gency hospital  in  a nearby  public  school.  In  March,  1919,  the 
number  of  pupils  in  all  classes  totaled  two  thousand,  and  the  superin- 
tendent sent  urgent  requests  for  folding  chairs  needed  for  services  and 


[137] 


social  entertainments,  for  Sloyd  tools,  cooking  class  supplies  and  for  the 
library. 

The  girls  who  pass  through  the  Industrial  Homes  of  the  Southwest 
are  second  to  none  of  the  wards  of  the  great  Society.  Coming  from  a 
unique  environment,  with  the  advantage  of  many  strains  of  blood,  lacking 
only  the  opportunity  to  make  the  most  of  themselves,  they  respond  to  the 
pretty  surroundings  and  bright  companionship,  to  Christian  love  and 
education,  as  flowers  to  the  sun.  Gazing  into  their  sweet  faces,  noticing 
their  well-poised  bodies  and  comprehending  the  intellectual  training  of 
these  Spanish  and  Mexican  girls,  one  is  once  more  reminded  of  the  saying, 
“He  that  fetcheth  his  race  longest  jumps  farthest.” 

AN  ISLAND  MISSION— PORTO  RICO 

Ten  years  ago  there  were  384,000  people  under  sixteen  years  of  age 
in  Porto  Rico.  The  Spanish  women  and  children  on  the  island  bore  the 
brunt  of  unchaste  and  unclean  surroundings  and  paid  most  fully  the  price 
of  ignorance  and  superstition.  The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
could  have  chosen  no  more  fertile  field  for  work  than  Porto  Rico  and 
none  more  fittingly  theirs.  The  difficulties  there  were  those  of  all  Roman 
Catholic  countries.  The  Society’s  first  schools  were  in  the  main  centres 
of  Porto  Rico,  but  places  farther  out  were  early  contemplated. 

McKinley  Day  School — In  November,  1901,  the  superintend- 
ent of  missions  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  gave  McKinley  Day  School  at  San  Juan  to  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society  on  condition  that  the  Society  would  provide  the 
teacher.  One  of  the  deaconesses  who  had  been  studying  Spanish  was 
induced  to  take  the  day  school.  It  met  in  a room  belonging  to  the 
Spanish  church.  Attendance  on  this  day  school  depended  upon  attend- 
ance at  the  Sunday-school  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Spanish  Church. 
Scholarships  in  the  day  school  were  fixed  at  $15.  The  enrollment 
reached  one  hundred  and  fifty  inside  of  two  years.  In  1 906  a kinder- 
garten was  added  to  the  day  school,  and  teachers  visited  the  homes  oi 
the  pupils.  In  1907  the  public  schools  had  improved  so  much  that  there 
was  no  need  of  grading  above  the  third  primary.  The  kindergarten 
therefore  became  the  main  feature  of  McKinley  Day  School.  At  the 
same  time  a small  Teachers’  Training  School  for  Porto  Rican  women 


[138] 


was  conducted  at  McKinley  with  six  women  in  training.  The  plan  was 
to  send  these  women  out  to  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  on  the  island 
to  work  there  with  the  children. 

By  1 909  McKinley  kindergarten  and  kindergarten  training  school  in 
San  Juan  enrolled  one  hundred  and  fifty  children  and  seven  in  teacher 
training,  and  had  practice  work  at  a branch  kindergarten  in  Puerta  de 
Tierra.  The  first  corps  of  workers  consisted  of  two  deaconesses.  Prop- 
erty for  an  orphanage  at  Arecibo  was  offered  to  the  Society,  but  was 
declined.  When  the  orphanage  and  Industrial  Home  at  San  Juan  was 
opened  in  1902,  six  orphans  came  from  the  Arecibo  orphanage.  The 
next  year  the  Society  discontinued  the  deaconess  Home  and  organized 
settlement  work  at  Puerta  de  Tierra.  This  settlement  was  closed  the 
following  year  because  the  Missionary  Society  opened  work  there. 

George  O.  Robinson  Orphanage — In  1903  the  George  O. 
Robinson  Orphanage  and  Industrial  Home  for  girls  was  established  at 
San  Turce,  the  name  recognizing  the  gift  of  $3,000  to  this  special 
field.  Sixteen  girls  were  enrolled.  The  new  building  was  started 
in  1906  and  was  ready  for  occupancy  in  1907.  The  main  building, 
placed  on  a high  knoll,  was  made  of  cement  blocks.  It  had  a large 
school  room  and  dining  room  on  the  first  floor,  and  two  large  dormitories 
and  four  teachers’  rooms  on  the  second.  In  a cottage,  later  known  as 
Yates  Cottage,  was  provision  for  industrial  work.  When  carefully 
remodeled  this  building  contained  one  large  room  for  sewing  classes,  one 
for  a rainy  day  play  room,  a room  for  girls’  reading  room,  and  a second 
floor  dormitory,  Effa  Z.  Ham  play  pavilion,  and  the  “Casa  de 
Salud,’’  a small  hospital  known  as  Kellogg  Bourne  Memorial  completed 
the  building  equipment  for  this  splendid  orphanage  and  Industrial  Home. 
In  1911  two  Porto  Rican  girls  were  taken  to  Rust  Hall  for  further 
training  in  kindergarten,  domestic  science  and  sewing.  Forty-seven  girls 
of  the  orphanage  joined  the  Spanish  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
1913.  The  branch  work  of  McKinley  kindergarten  at  Puerta  de  Tierra 
later  became  Woodruff  Day  School  and  Kindergarten.  A second  day 
school  was  opened  at  Ponce  in  1907  in  connection  with  the  Spanish 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Here  a Porto  Rican  woman  taught  the 
school,  its  justification  being  the  over-crowded  public  school.  Later  it 
was  called  Fisk  Day  School.  A fourth  day  school  was  taught  by  a girl 


[139] 


trained  at  McKinley,  on  Vieques  Island.  This  later  was  moved  to 
Arecibo  and  named  Williams  Day  School.  Work  among  lepers  was 
supported  by  several  denominations.  The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
societies  were  allowed  to  receive  credit  for  Methodism’s  part  in  this 
humane  ministry.  That  a flourishing  orphanage  and  Industrial  Home 
and  four  day  schools  could  be  founded  and  put  on  a firm  footing  in  ten 
years  in  a Catholic  country  is  concrete  evidence  of  the  excellent  system  of 
support  and  supervision  which  the  Society  has  built  up.  It  is  also  an 
irrefutable  proof  that  Porto  Rico  is  ready  for  the  Gospel. 


[140] 


Moving  Hearthstones 


Indian  Mission  Stations  — 1920 


Name 

Stickney 

Navajo 

Digger 

Pottawatomie 

Ponca 

Yuma 


Location 

Everson,  Washington 
Farmington,  New  Mexico 
Greenville,  California 
Mayetta,  Kansas 
White  Eagle,  Oklahoma 
Yuma,  Arizona 


IX 


MOVING  HEARTHSTONES 

* * 

THERE  were  times  when  the  church  lost  its  early  fervor  in  Indian 
work.  There  were  times  when  the  Indian  question  was  a sore  one 
in  the  nation.  There  were  times  when  the  frontiers  filled  up  with  evil, 
rapacious  adventurers  who  were  there  to  destroy  the  Indian,  when  the 
Indian  retaliated  eye  for  an  eye  and  tooth  for  a tooth,  when  Government 
agents  were  liars  and  cheats,  then  again  when  they  were  humane  and 
Christian.  During  these  chaotic  years  missionaries  of  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society  went  singing,  praying,  conversing  in  camps  of  the 
Indians,  teaching  the  women  to  cook,  sew  and  nurse,  coaxing  the  small 
papooses  to  school,  washing  their  little  faces,  healing  their  diseases, 
teaching  them  to  read,  write  and  pray.  These  women  stood  staunch 
and  patient  and  clean  and  honest  before  the  Indian,  his  unfailing  friends, 
his  earthly  guides,  pointing  the  way  to  self-preservation  and  advancement, 
leading  him  to  righteous  living  and  Christian  service.  We  do  not  see 
very  many  fine  buildings  as  monuments  of  Indian  work,  but  we  do  see 
many  Christian  Indian  boys  and  girls.  We  see  Indian  farms  and  homes 
and  churches  and  social  settlements. 

The  policy  of  the  Government  in  1891  in  regard  to  Indian  education 
influenced  the  policy  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  in  its 
Indian  work.  The  education  of  the  Indians  was  relegated  to  the  Govern- 
ment, placing  schools  and  employees  under  the  Civil  Service  to  avoid 
the  fluctuations  of  politics.  The  women  therefore  decided  to  have  no 
schools  except  the  two  already  established, — at  Pawhuska,  Okla.,  and 
among  the  Nooksacks  in  Washington.  They  would  need  no  expensive 
buildings,  and  could  carry  the  Gospel  and  its  ministries  directly  to  the 
Indian  in  an  effort  to  promote  a better  life  in  better  surroundings.  They 
rightly  felt  that  the  “plea  for  the  Indian  was  the  plea  for  cities  yet  to  be.’’ 

Complications  soon  came  in  their  exclusive  mission  to  the  Indians. 
When  they  first  entered  this  field,  they  alone  occupied  the  immense  tract 


[143] 


then  called  Indian  Territory,  afterward  becoming  the  state  of  Oklahoma. 
This  soon  became  missionary  ground  of  mixed  character.  Many  whites, 
poor,  disappointed  in  a rush  for  homes,  many  of  them  bad,  with  liquor, 
made  up  a combination  that  was  dangerous  to  the  red  man,  whose 
heathenisms  were  intensified  by  a touch  of  the  white  man’s  vices.  In 
! 894  the  Indian  bureau  became  the  bureau  for  Indian  and  frontier  work, 
and  the  Society  ministered  to  all  as  occasion  demanded.  This  same  year, 
at  a meeting  in  the  church  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  an  organization  was 
formed  to  help  the  Indians,  called  the  Woman’s  National  Indian  Asso- 
ciation. Its  policy  was  to  go  into  a locality,  found  an  Indian  mission, 
and  after  it  was  thoroughly  established  in  the  course  of  several  years, 
turn  it  over  to  some  neighboring  evangelical  organization.  Through  the 
Woman’s  National  Indian  Association  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  came  into  the  possession  of  a number  of  Indian  missions. 

In  many  instances  the  Government  co-operated  with  the  Society  and 
vice  versa.  A special  instance  of  their  mutual  work  was  in  the  provision 
of  the  Field  Matron.  This  official  was  nominated  by  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society  and  employed  by  the  Government.  One  was  assigned 
to  the  Pawnees,  one  to  the  Cheyennes  and  Arapahoes  of  the  Algonquin 
tribes.  In  1894  two  more  were  added,  one  for  New  Mexico,  and 
one  for  Indian  Territory.  In  one  instance  the  Field  Matron,  being  a 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  missionary,  reported  her  work  to 
the  Society,  The  office  of  Field  Matron  was  abolished  in  1902. 

The  church,  too,  arranged  to  co-operate  with  the  Society.  In  some 
mission  stations  the  church  appointed  the  minister  and  the  women  ap- 
pointed his  wife  to  the  same  place  for  woman’s  work  under  the  condition 
that  the  minister  could  not  be  removed  from  the  mission  without  the 
sanction  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society. 

Those  who  have  worked  for  years  with  the  Indian  are  sure  of  his 
ability,  and  are  in  sympathy  with  his  desire  to  be  an  American  citizen 
with  full,  equal  rights  of  the  same.  The  workers  unanimously  insist 
that  the  Indian  be  dealt  with  in  all  respects  like  other  races  who  find  a 
home  on  American  soil. 

An  attempt  to  index  the  tribes  of  Indians  who  have  been  under  the 
care  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  from  1891  to  1919 


[144] 


leads  one  to  appreciate  the  Government’s  reference  to  a tribe  in  the  state 
of  Washington  as  Tribe  No.  1434.  Necessary  changes  of  the  work 
from  bureau  to  bureau  have  given  reports  of  the  Indian  missions  some- 
what the  character  of  their  nomadic  charges.  The  initial  division  placed 
Indian  work  under  (1  ) the  Bureau  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  (2) 
Indian  Bureau.  The  latest  reports  of  Indian  work  read  as  follows: 
( 1 ) Indian  work  in  Kansas,  Oklahoma  and  New  Mexico,  under  which 
are  the  Navajo  Industrial  Home  and  School,  the  Pottawatomie  and  the 
Ponca  missions.  (2)  Indian  work  on  the  Pacific  coast,  including 
Stickney,  Yuma  and  Digger  Indian  missions.  During  the  twenty-eight 
or  twenty-nine  years,  the  following  tribes  have  been  definitely  reached 
by  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society:  The  Navajo,  Apache, 
Pawnee,  Ponca,  Pottawatomie,  Osage-Pawhuska,  Nooksack,  Yuma, 
Digger,  Cocopah  and  Y akima. 

Although  work  among  all  Indians  was  conducted  on  the  same  prin- 
ciples, yet  a short  account  of  the  individual  missions  shows  some  differ- 
entiation in  work  as  well  as  in  the  character  of  the  Indians  in  the  several 
tribes. 

The  NAVAJOES — No  more  thrilling  account  of  the  opening  of  a 
mission  under  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  can  be  found 
than  that  of  the  one  to  the  Navajo  Indians  located  at  Jewett,  N.  M.,  on 
the  San  Juan  River,  seventy-four  miles  from  a railroad.  It  reads,  “As 
the  sun  was  declining  behind  the  lofty  mountains  at  the  west,  the  Durango 
stage  left  two  lone  women  on  the  border  of  the  Navajo  reservation.  A 
wagon  soon  followed  with  a tent  and  a few  necessary  household  articles. 
Men  put  up  the  tent,  set  up  a little  stove  and  drove  away,  leaving  the 
women  alone,  while  two  Indians  wrapped  in  blankets  sat  at  a distance 
and  watched  the  proceedings.  The  women  put  their  tent  in  order,  pre- 
pared their  evening  meal,  pinned  a piece  of  cloth  across  the  opening  of 
the  tent,  said  their  prayers  and  went  to  bed.’’  Before  long  the  Nava  joes 
came  to  inspect  the  tent.  They  brought  an  interpreter,  who  asked  how 
large  a building  they  were  going  to  build.  The  missionary  marked  out  a 
space  16x16  feet,  and  the  Indians  were  satisfied,  since  they  knew  it 
could  not  be  large  enough  for  a school  house,  against  which  they  were 
prejudiced. 

It  was  soon  discovered  that  the  newcomers  had  medicine  with  them. 


[H5] 


There  was  much  sickness  among  the  Nava  joes,  so  the  mission  tent  soon 
became  a small  dispensary.  The  Indians  brought  their  friends  from  far 
and  near  to  be  cured  by  the  white  women. 

A small,  inexpensive  house  was  built  as  a test  of  what  the  Indians 
would  allow.  They  took  very  kindly  to  the  house  and  were  anxious 
to  learn  to  cook  and  to  sew.  In  order  to  attract  the  women  to  the  mis- 
sion where  they  could  be  taught  these  things,  the  missionaries  sent  to 
Durango  for  yarn  and  allowed  the  women  to  weave  rugs  while  there. 
Several  women  stayed  at  the  house,  where  they  could  weave  the  rugs 
and  learn  at  the  same  time  to  cook  and  sew.  They  were  delighted  to  do 
as  the  white  women  did,  and  skillfully  dyed  the  wool  and  wove  rugs. 

The  Navajoes  were  an  industrious,  self-respecting  people.  They  had 
not  been  known  to  draw  rations  from  the  Government  and  were  anxious 
and  able  to  learn  and  to  improve.  So  the  women  sent  for  a sewing 
machine,  spinning  wheel,  knitting  needles  and  a big  kettle  for  washing, 
and  taught  all  who  came.  It  was  more  difficult  to  teach  the  Indians 
spiritual  things  than  the  handicrafts.  They  had  a sign  language  for 
visible  objects,  but  none  for  abstract  ideas.  The  people  grew  very  fond 
of  the  missionaries,  who  often  aided  them  in  their  difficulties  with  white 
neighbors,  and  smoothed  over  many  a quarrel.  In  return  the  Indians 
showed  their  gratitude  when  one  of  the  missionaries  was  sick  by  protecting 
them  from  bad  white  men.  They  kept  an  Indian  watcher  outside  of  the 
house  supplied  with  arms  and  ammunition  “until  the  mission  had  the 
appearance  of  a small  arsenal.”  They  were  an  imitative  race  and 
advanced  quickly.  Eight  of  the  braves  built  log  houses  with  doors  and 
windows,  and  several  cultivated  their  fields.  The  next  thing  was  to  dig 
a well,  for  the  river  water  resembled  soap-suds. 

The  year  1 895  was  a hard  year  on  the  reservation  and  at  the  little 
mission  as  well,  and  yet  providential  in  the  lesson  it  taught  the  Indians. 
Severe  sandstorms  almost  ruined  the  mission  house.  Drought  soon  brought 
the  people  almost  to  starvation.  Many  were  forced  to  eat  their  sheep, 
goats,  and  finally  their  ponies  to  keep  alive.  Then  indeed  did  they  value 
education  and  see  the  need  of  tilling  the  land  and  of  irrigation.  They 
began  at  once  to  work  on  ditches  with  the  poorest  of  tools.  The  ditches 
bad  to  be  a mile  long  and  twelve  feet  deep,  and  the  Navajoes  started  the 


[146] 


difficult  feat  with  oniy  an  axe  and  a shovel  with  a broken  handle. 
Another  crowd  had  an  axe,  so  they  cut  down  a cedar  tree  and  made 
“mud  spoons’'  out  of  it  with  which  to  scoop  out  the?  dirt.  Then  better 
tools  were  secured  for  them  through  the  Indian  Rights  Association,  and 
during  the  year  they  irrigated  six  hundred  acres.  Navajoes  from  the 
farthest  end  of  the  reservation  begged  the  missionaries  to  teach  them  how 
to  irrigate  the  soil  and  promised  to  stop  drinking  and  work  hard  if  the 
white  people  would  show  them  how  to  do  the  work. 

The  year  following  was  even  more  difficult  owing  to  the  transition 
of  the  people  from  herders  to  farmers.  They  were  forced  to  change 
their  mode  of  life  because  of  the  fall  in  prices  of  wool,  pelts  and  ponies. 
So  they  built  homes  and  the  men  became  ranchmen  and  the  women 
weavers  of  beautiful  Navajo  blankets. 

The  permanent  mission  Home  was  completed  in  about  four  months. 
The  missionaries  took  up  land  by  the  side  of  the  mission  as  homestead 
land,  then  by  codicil  to  their  will  gave  it  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society.  The  new  adobe  building  was  1 6 x 44  feet,  with  walls 
1 4 inches  thick. 

The  Government  furnished  school  for  one  hundred  out  of  four  thou- 
sand Indian  children.  The  number  of  children  in  the  mission  school 
fluctuated,  since  the  children  went  with  their  parents  who  moved  about 
looking  for  pasture.  A proposition  was  considered  in  1 898  to  open  a 
day  school  to  white  children  as  well  as  Indians,  and  to  keep  the  Navajo 
children  through  the  winter.  The  dormitory  would  cost  fifteen  hundred 
dollars.  In  1 899  twenty  white  children  attended  day  school  and  thir- 
teen Navajoes  stayed  at  the  mission.  The  parents  were  very  fond  of 
visiting  the  school  and  watching  their  children  write  and  count,  and  de- 
scribe picture  cards.  It  was  quite  usual  to  have  a stalwart  Indian  in  a 
big  blanket  move  about  the  school  room  and  compare  slates  of  the  white 
with  those  of  the  Indian,  as  if  he  understood.  Perhaps  in  his  laconic  way 
he  knew  more  than  he  admitted.  Then  the  whole  school  caught  the 
whooping  cough.  The  people  were  making  splendid  progress.  The 
missionaries  were  about  to  buy  a farm  where  the  children  could  learn  to 
till  the  ground  when  certain  events  made  important  changes  wise. 

The  Woman’s  National  Indian  Association  transferred  a hospital 
located  near  the  Methodist  Mission  to  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The 


[147] 


Society  sold  the  property  at  Jewett  and  bought  a farm  three  miles  from 
Farmington.  It  had  a good  well  free  from  alkali,  was  high,  healthful 
land  and  joined  the  reservation  on  the  east.  It  was  on  the  San  Juan 
River,  across  from  a large  number  of  Navajoes,  and  had  telegraph 
communication  with  Durango.  The  new  farm  proved  very  satisfactory 
with  good  water,  fertile  ground  and  various  fruit  trees.  One  thousand 
dollars,  pledged  besides  the  sale  of  the  land  at  Jewett,  provided  means 
for  a new  building. 

The  San  Juan  River  was  apt  to  run  high;  the  people  of  Farmington 
built  a foot-bridge  over  it,  so  that  the  missionaries  and  children  could 
cross  no  matter  how  high  the  water  was.  The  great  need  was  water, 
and  protection  from  water.  The  land  needed  irrigation,  and  on  one 
occasion  the  children  and  missionaries  were  forced  to  camp  on  the  Indian 
side  of  the  river  because  of  floods.  The  Home  was  well  adapted  for  the 
work.  The  children  made  marked  progress  in  English  and  showed  real 
gift  in  modeling  clay  dishes  and  animals. 

Irrigation  resulted  in  the  growth  of  alfalfa,  potatoes  and  other  vege- 
tables. A new  force  pump,  new  furniture,  ranges,  stoves,  paint  and  paper 
transformed  the  Home.  At  this  time  the  Government  agent  sent  for  the 
missionary  to  go  to  Ship  Rock,  where  six  hundred  Navajoes  were  gath- 
ered. The  agent  had  urged  them  to  send  their  children  to  the  Mission 
School.  Before  doing  so,  they  insisted  on  seeing  the  woman,  to  make 
sure  that  she  was  a proper  person  for  them  to  trust  their  children  with. 
The  inspection  must  have  been  satisfactory,  as  the  children  began  to 
arrive  in  a few  days.  Fourteen  had  never  been  to  school  before.  The 
cleaning-up  process  was  the  first  difficult  move.  One  little  bit  of  a fellow 
fought  with  all  his  small  might,  but  when  cleaned  up  was  one  of  the 
sweetest  little  fellows  in  the  Home.  The  children  liked  the  neatness  of 
everything, — the  dishes  particularly.  On  their  visits  home  they  would 
tell  such  tales  of  life  at  the  mission  to  their  parents  that  the  Indians 
would  return  with  the  children  to  find  out  if  such  things  were  so. 

New  implements  were  needed  regularly,  since  they  gave  out  quickly 
in  the  hot,  dry  climate.  Single  beds,  too,  were  purchased  upon  the  order 
of  the  Government.  In  1910a  handbook  of  the  Navajo  language  was 
gotten  out.  Charts  and  textbooks  were  sent  by  a Conference  auxiliary. 

In  1911  a new  building,  42  x 72  feet,  was  completed.  The  old 


[148] 


Home  was  turned  into  a boys’  dormitory,  while  the  school  building  was 
added  to  and  became  the  Mary  E.  Tripp  Memorial  Hospital. 

The  annals  of  1912  report  the  complete  destruction  of  the  Navajo 
mission  by  the  overflow  of  the  San  Juan  River.  The  disaster  was  over- 
whelming. Nothing  of  value  was  left  after  twenty-one  years  of  labor, 
and  there  was  no  insurance  against  flood.  Six  months  later  a new  loca- 
tion of  fifteen  acres  was  secured,  one  and  a quarter  miles  from  Farming- 
ton, — on  the  same  side  of  the  river  as  the  town.  The  first  building,  the 
Mary  E.  Tripp  Memorial,  was  erected  by  the  Troy  Conference.  This 
was  a large  building  of  twenty  rooms,  three  good-sized  dormitories,  a 
large  cellar  or  storeroom,  and  an  outside  vegetable  cellar  on  the  side 
hill.  The  workers  gathered  together  machinery  and  tools  for  farming, 
and  stocked  up  with  two  horses,  two  cows  and  a calf,  six  hogs,  turkeys 
and  chickens,  rabbits  and  Belgian  hares.  When  the  little  Navajoes 
returned,  after  living  the  wild  life  for  eighteen  months,  they  brought  back 
all  sorts  of  troubles.  Some  showed  signs  of  tuberculosis.  Others  had 
trachoma  or  skin  diseases.  These,  with  chicken-pox,  gave  the  workers 
much  to  do.  Fifteen  more  acres  of  land  were  purchased.  Katherine 
H.  Bassett  Cottage  was  built  and  used  for  school  work,  and  home  of 
two  of  the  workers.  They  were  relieved  in  1914  by  the  arrival  of  a 
good  doctor.  In  1917  the  Navajo  Mission  passed  over  to  the  care  of 
the  Bureau  of  Indian  Work  in  Kansas,  Oklahoma  and  New  Mexico. 
The  mission  gives  regular  instruction  in  industrial  work  and  a short 
course  in  agriculture.  Its  Junior  Red  Cross  did  a great  deal  of  knitting 
during  war  times, — the  Indian  lad  served  his  country.  Material  improve- 
ments are  following  rapidly,  including  a water  system,  washing  machines, 
fire  extinguishers,  fire-escapes,  two  horses  and  playground  equipment. 

The  APACHES — A mission  to  the  Apache  Indians  was  established 
at  Dulce,  N.  M.,  in  1891.  The  Indians  wanted  a school  on  their 
reservation  for  their  children  who  had  been  sick  when  at  the  Government 
school.  When  the  missionary  appeared,  however,  the  children  fled  in 
all  directions, — hiding  behind  boulders  on  the  mountain  side,  slipping 
under  fur  rugs  in  the  tepees,  all  shaking  in  fright  as  from  a chill. 

The  allotting  agent  of  the  Government  gave  eighty  fine  acres  for  the 
school.  There  the  missionary  lived  in  a hut  for  five  years.  Converted 
Apache  women  filled  chinks  between  the  logs  of  the  building  with  adobe. 


[149] 


The  door  was  so  low  one  had  to  stoop  to  enter.  This  was  a central 
point  for  Protestantism,  and  a progressive  one  as  well,  since  the  church 
organized  with  five  members  grew  to  fifty  within  three  years.  On 
Thanksgiving  Day,  1 896,  their  chapel  was  finished.  The  Indians  cele- 
brated with  a great  feast  of  wild  turkey.  The  new  organ  was  an  added 
attraction.  The  school  grew  so  that  almost  at  once  came  the  call  for  a 
bigger  school  building.  In  1897  the  school  faced  an  opening  day  “with 
empty  larder,  empty  purse  and  children  crowding  in,”  but  barrels  from 
Albany  and  Rensselaer  arrived  with  blankets,  clothes,  groceries,  dried 
fruits,  ham,  shoes,  boots  and  printing  press. 

Then  an  epidemic  of  small-pox  threatened  the  school,  but  it  did  not 
reach  the  children  within,  though  many  died  on  the  reservation.  They 
were  wonderfully  bright  children, — little  Coul-tu-yeh  (Henrietta),  five 
years  old,  could  speak  the  English,  Spanish  and  Apache  languages. 
After  seventeen  years  of  careful  teaching,  pupils  were  studying  at  the 
Government  school  in  Kansas  and  at  Harwood  School,  Albuquerque. 
In  1 905  all  Apache  children  were  taken  to  the  Government  school, 
leaving  only  American  and  Mexican  children.  Though  the  school  recov- 
ered from  the  change,  the  Indian  work  there  was  at  an  end. 

The  Pawnees — The  Pawnee  Mission  at  Pawnee,  Okla.,  is  the 
oldest  Indian  mission  under  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  It 
was  given  to  the  Society  by  the  Woman’s  National  Indian  Association. 
In  1 885  a woman  and  her  boy  of  fifteen  took  up  the  work  as  it  was 
turned  over  from  the  Indian  Association.  We  next  hear  of  Pawnee 
Mission  in  1891  when  a group  of  little  boys  at  Union  City,  Pa.,  sent 
money  for  a pony  that  the  missionary  might  reach  the  Indians  within  the 
reservation.  At  this  time  one  woman  and  her  interpreter  were  working 
among  the  Pawnees.  They  had  a very  small  house,  with  land  enough 
to  grow  a garden  and  keep  a cow.  They  had  a little  chapel  with  an 
organ  and  chair  seats.  It  was  the  Pawnees  who  insisted  on  chairs  as 
fitting  for  a church,  saying  “no  sit  on  bench.” 

The  missionary,  an  educated  Pawnee  woman,  had  trouble  with  serv- 
ice disturbances.  A young,  half-educated  Indian,  a hypnotist,  came 
among  them,  instituting  ghost  dances,  and  the  Indians  would  be  seized 
and  begin  to  dance  while  in  church.  There  was  a good  Government 
school  at  Pawnee,  and  these  Indians  had  good  farms.  They  had  a 


[150] 


minister  in  1895,  a member  of  the  Pawnee  tribe.  With  the  help  of  the 
Church  Extension  Society  and  the  Oklahoma  Conference  a church  was 
built.  That  year,  at  the  request  of  the  Conference,  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society  transferred  the  church  to  the  Conference.  Two 
years  later,  at  the  earnest  request  of  the  Conference,  the  church  at  Pawnee 
was  returned  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  In  1 898  the 
mission  had  a gift  of  five  acres  at  the  agency.  It  was  much  coveted  by 
the  Indians  for  their  sports,  but  as  long  as  a missionary  was  employed 
there  it  belonged  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  One  of 
the  Field  Matrons  was  assigned  to  the  Pawnees.  The  work  of  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  here  has  since  been  discontinued. 

The  PONCAS — In  1893  the  Society  had  a Home  and  forty  acres 
of  land  at  Ponca,  Okla.,  on  the  south  fork  of  the  Arkansas  River.  A 
railroad  passed  through  the  village.  The  Poncas  were  less  industrious 
than  the  Pawnees.  They  longed  for  their  happy  hunting  grounds;  it 
took  sixteen  years  to  overcome  their  nomadic  habits.  They  would  rent 
their  good  homes  to  white  people  and  live  by  preference  in  the  tepees. 
When  they  first  came  into  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society’s 
history  there  were  a few  hundred  of  them  scattered  over  fifteen  miles  of 
territory.  A Field  Matron  was  a necessity  here  for  mission  work.  Their 
evil  influences  were  unscrupulous  agents,  Sabbath-desecrating  whites,  and 
liquor.  In  1 903  the  Poncas  joined  the  whites  and  missionaries  in  build- 
ing a church.  A good  school  was  in  full  swing  by  1 908. 

After  Prohibition  (for  Indians)  in  1908  the  Poncas  seemed  to  find 
themselves.  They  settled  down  on  farms,  in  homes,  and  cultivated  their 
lands,  raised  vegetables,  fruits  and  live  stock.  In  1910  a new  habit 
fixed  itself  upon  many  Poncas.  They  would  chew  a product  of  the 
century  plant,  or  make  a liquor  from  it  to  drink.  The  effect  of  this  peyote, 
as  they  called  it,  was  much  like  opium.  Their  annual  Sun  Dance,  where 
peyote  was  passed  about  freely,  was  demoralizing.  There  are  now  two 
thousand  Poncas.  Much  depends  on  the  missionary.  The  Home,  badly 
out  of  repair,  was  renovated  in  1912.  Three  classes  of  people  among 
the  Poncas  are  to  be  reached:  The  older  class,  who  cling  to  their 
heathen  rites;  the  peyote  users;  the  youth  returning  from  the  Government 
schools  at  Mayetta,  and  in  danger  of  slipping  into  the  old  habits  of 
their  fathers. 


The  PAWHUSKAS — The  Adelaide  Springer  Osage  Mission  at 
Pawhuska,  Okla.,  was  named  by  the  Upper  Iowa  Conference  in  1891 
upon  paying  of  $ 1 , 1 OG  for  cottages  for  the  mission.  They  had  a school 
here  of  fifty-nine  pupils.  It  was  a contract  school,  the  Government  allow- 
ing $125  a year  for  each  pupil.  Sewing  and  mending  delighted  the 
children.  Some  were  wholly  Indians,  others  were  partly  white.  They 
learned  well,  were  docile,  yet  vivacious.  A church  erected  through  the 
influence  of  the  mission  was  soon  crowded. 

In  1 894  the  mission  turned  over  its  Indian  school  to  the  Government, 
keeping  a day  school  open  for  the  mixed  races  that  were  left.  The 
task  of  the  Society  was  to  provide  the  religious  life  of  the  community 
and  help  conserve  the  teachings  of  the  Government  schools  in  the  life 
of  the  returned  young  Indian.  The  Osages  now  and  then  grieved  for 
the  old  tent  life  with  smoke  fires  and  wigwams,  but  they  steadily  increased 
in  number  and  in  stability  of  character.  They  irrigated  their  land,  culti- 
vated gardens  and  fruit  trees.  The  church  and  congregation  flourished, 
with  a Sunday-school  of  125.  In  1904  the  church  was  transferred  to 
the  Oklahoma  Conference  for  a consideration  of  one  hundred  dollars 
on  the  property.  The  building  had  been  built  jointly  by  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  and  the  Church  Extension  Society.  The 
hundred  dollars  was  put  upon  the  Pawnee  Mission. 

The  PoTTAW ATOMIES — In  1903  a Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  worker  began  visiting  from  house  to  house  among  the  Pottawa- 
tomies  near  Mayetta,  Kan.  To  make  the  work  more  permanent  a “church 
house”  was  built  during  the  year.  Soon  a telescope  organ  was  added  to 
the  equipment  of  the  house  to  house  visitors.  They  set  up  a baseball 
ground  and  secured  a graphophone.  Crowds  of  Indians  swarmed  the 
place  and  played  ball  until  dark.  A day  school  was  a success  and  the 
Christmas  celebration  of  1907  with  gifts  of  dolls,  pocket  knives,  hand- 
kerchiefs, neckties  and  candy  added  the  crowning  glory  of  popularity  to 
the  mission.  A more  permanent  building  was  completed  in  1911  and 
a day  school  flourished  until  adequate  Government  schools  were  provided 
in  1912.  The  mission  continued,  however,  with  an  unusual  number  in 
attendance. 

A worker  from  Fisk  Training  School  and  one  from  Haskell  Institute 
(Lawrence,  Kan.)  lived  at  the  Pottawatomie  Mission  and  started  church 


[152] 


work.  The  church  was  small  and  the  rooms  back  of  it  were  needed  for 
settlement  work  there.  Later  Rev.  and  Mrs.  B.  H.  Hill  took  up  the 
social  service,  and  in  1915  the  Fannie  Murray  Home,  containing  a fine 
reading  room,  was  completed. 

Young  Christian  Indians  from  the  Government  school  at  Mayetta 
were  very  helpful  in  their  social  service  work  on  both  Ponca  and  Potta- 
watomie reservations.  The  mission  had  come  in  touch  with  these  young 
people  through  Haskell  Institute. 

In  1 9 1 6 the  dream  of  the  workers  for  a Christian  social  centre  was 
realized.  The  missionary  pastor  preached  at  four  places  also,  and,  won- 
der of  wonders,  Indian  ponies  were  discarded  for  an  automobile  to  go 
from  meeting  to  meeting  on  the  reservation.  The  Pottawatomie  Mission 
was  the  proud  possessor  of  a service  flag  with  forty-two  stars  in  1918, 
and  a Red  Cross  chapter.  One  Indian  had  three  sons  in  the  service. 

The  NOOKSACKS — A mission  to  the  Nooksack  Indians  was  situated 
at  Lynden,  Wash.,  on  the  Nooksack  River.  Stickney  Memorial  Home 
and  School  was  the  only  house  and  school  in  the  bureau  for  Indian  work. 
To  save  the  making  of  a bridge  over  the  Nooksack  River,  the  course 
of  the  river  was  turned  so  that  the  twenty-five  acre  farm  about  this  Home 
became  an  island.  There,  in  1899,  seventeen  beneficiaries,  and  later 
fifty  children  were  given  industrial  training  by  the  Society’s  hard-working 
missionaries.  The  children  were  domestic  in  taste.  If  allowed,  they 
would  be  in  the  kitchen  by  five  o’clock  in  the  morning,  but  other  studies 
did  not  come  so  easily  to  them.  Learning  in  1906  that  one  of  the 
teachers  was  a dressmaker,  the  Indians  brought  bright-colored  goods 
for  their  girls  and  there  was  a rush  for  new  dresses  among  Indian  girls. 
The  Indians  were  ambitious  for  their  children.  They  had  gotten  the 
idea  of  competition  and  insisted  on  strict  attendance  at  school.  Stickney 
Home  was  valued  at  $4,700.  In  1897  it  received  forty  acres  from  the 
church,  a part  of  Government  land  assigned  to  the  church.  The  mission 
was  also  the  possessor  of  Angora  goats.  The  housekeeping  was  particu- 
larly heavy.  Accounts  of  canning,  cleaning,  washing  straw  mattresses 
for  fifty  children,  eighty  quilts,  twenty  blankets,  and  of  making  one  hun- 
dred yards  of  carpets  as  summer  vacation  work  were,  to  say  the  least, 
not  alluring.  From  October  to  November,  1907,  five  great  floods  vis- 
ited the  island  on  which  Stickney  Home  stood.  Vegetables,  fruit  and 


[153] 


foot-bridge  were  lost.  Cows,  pigs,  fowls  and  goats  were  saved.  Great 
trees  were  washed  up  on  the  island.  The  water  rose  eight  feet  on  the 
side  of  the  house,  but  the  Home  stood  firm  and  a repetition  of  the  Navajo 
disaster  was  spared  the  faithful  workers. 

In  1909  a marked  change  in  missionary  activities  took  place.  The 
work  was  changed  from  that  of  boarding  school  to  a line  similar  to  the 
settlement  work  of  the  city  mission  plus  a day  school.  It  was 
carried  on  by  two  persons,  a teacher  and  field  matron.  The  teacher 
taught  industrial  classes  for  children  who  needed  it.  The  matron  went 
into  the  homes  to  help  mothers.  Both  were  assistants  to  the  pastor  of 
the  church.  This  plan  of  work  originated  with  the  Woman’s  National 
Indian  Association  and  was  adopted  by  other  Societies.  It  was  felt  that 
the  new  method  was  better  for  the  adult  Indian  than  the  boarding  school. 
It  placed  on  the  Indian  the  responsibility  of  caring  for  the  bodily  needs 
of  his  children,  a natural  right  and  duty  of  the  parent.  The  Indians 
were  both  financially  able  and  were  sufficiently  trained  to  be  able  to 
care  for  their  children  very  nicely.  In  the  early  days  of  the  tepee  the 
child  was  better  away  from  the  paternal  dwelling.  It  was  a different 
matter  by  1909,  when  the  Home  was  changed.  The  child  needed  to 
live  at  home,  to  learn  to  love  it  and  to  become  a part  of  family  life. 
This  plan  has  been  admirably  successful  since  its  adoption  by  the  Society 

The  Yuma — A reservation  of  Yuma  Indians  is  situated  opposite 
the  Mexican  border  on  the  California  side  of  the  Colorado  River,  two 
miles  from  the  Arizona  line.  There  were  1,1  00  Indians  in;  the  tribe  in 
1904.  That  year  the  Woman’s  National  Indian  Association  sent  a 
minister  to  the  Yuma  reservation  to  open  a mission  to  the  Indians.  He 
built  a mission  cottage  on  four  acres  of  land  given  by  the  Government. 
The  four-room  cottage  was  provided  with  large  porches  and  was  suitable 
for  a sewing  school.  At  the  end  of  three  years  the  Woman’s  National 
Indian  Association,  according  to  its  custom,  was  ready  to  hand  the 
mission  over  to  an  evangelical  organization,  and  it  came  into  the  hands 
of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  in  1907. 

The  people  were  very  superstitious,  believed  in  evil  spirits  and  were 
poverty  stricken.  The  mission  dispensary  was  supplied  with  medicine  by 
the  Government  for  a time,  but  wishing  to  keep  the  Indians  somewhat 
under  Government  influence  the  agent  withdrew  the  supply  of  medicine. 


[154] 


and  from  that  time  the  Society  had  to  furnish  its  own.  In  1909  the 
missionary  asked  for  eight  sewing  machines,  which  were  used  by  forty- 
eight  squaws,  who  attended  sewing  school.  The  Yumas  insisted  upon 
choosing  the  church  for  their  children  themselves,  and  chose  the  Methodist 
Mission  Church.  The  needs  of  the  work  rapidly  doubled  and  a hospital 
seemed  a necessity.  In  1917  the  Government  allowed  the  Society  to 
use  an  acre  of  land  for  a new  location  of  buildings  on  the  hill  where  the 
Government  school  stood.  This  has  greatly  helped  the  work. 

The  DIGGERS — The  Digger  Indians  in  California  were  well  looked 
after  by  three  agencies, — the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society,  the 
Government,  and  the  California  Conference, — and  responded  very 
quickly  to  Christianizing  influence.  One  of  their  ardent  admirers  declared 
that  no  race  in  history  had  made  greater  improvement  in  so  short  a time 
as  six  years;  the  mission  originated  in  1892.  They  had  three  United 
States  day  schools.  In  two  years,  sixty  boys  and  girls  of  this  tribe  were 
ready  for  Government  Indian  schools.  The  mission  work  included  a 
circuit  of  sixty  miles  and  return.  After  1904,  Coyote  Valley  was 
added.  The  Indians  would  take  their  children  and  go  far  away  for 
summer  work,  but  return  in  time  for  the  October  opening  of  school. 
Religious  education  had  good  results.  Their  greatest  drawback  was 
liquor,  which  could  readily  be  gotten  from  illicit  sales.  The  converted 
Indians  refused  to  work  in  the  hop  fields  for  good  pay,  preferring  the  bean 
fields  which  were  free  from  vagabonds  and  whisky. 

In  1905  the  Government  schools  closed,  so  the  mission  schools  were 
opened  in  1907  and  went  well.  The  later  difficulties  have  been  the 
necessarily  nomadic  life  of  the  tribe.  Two  hundred  and  eighty  Indians 
lived  on  a tract  of  land  which  would  not  support  one  large  white  family. 
Twenty-two  out  of  ninety-two  acres  were  tillable.  The  rest  was  barren 
mountain  side.  The  women  knew  little  about  nursing.  In  1896  the 
mission  at  Ukiah  was  transferred  to  the  California  Conference. 

Two  years  later  an  Indian  mission  in  Northern  California,  near 
Greenville,  was  given  to  the  Society  by  the  Woman’s  National  Indian 
Association.  A Government  school  is  prosperous  there.  The  Society 
has  a church  of  eighty-six  and  a Sunday-school  of  ninety-five.  The  work 
is  not  only  for  the  Digger  Indians  there,  but  reaches  out  to  help  them 
wherever  they  may  be  found.  One  hundred  dollars  was  sent  to  the 


[155] 


mission  to  support  blind  old  Indians  who  were  trying  to  live  on  acorns 
and  wasted  wheat  from  the  fields.  About  the  time  that  the  Digger 
mission  in  Ukiah  was  transferred  to  the  care  of  the  California  Conference 
(1895)  a new  field  was  received  by  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society,  a mission  to  the  Yakima  Indians. 

The  YAKIMAS — During  President  Grant’s  administration,  “Tribe 
1434”  was  transformed  by  the  Christian  cachings  of  Father  Wilbur, 
the  Indian  agent  at  Fort  Simcoe,  Wash.  Three  people  carried  on  the 
work  of  Father  Wilbur, — a Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dorcester,  and  a Mrs.  C.  E. 
Miller,  physician,  teacher  and  missionary.  Upon  the  death  of  Mrs. 
Dorcester,  the  work  was  handed  over  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society,  Mrs.  Miller  remaining  with  her  devoted  Yakimas.  The  Indians 
were  very  fond  of  her,  and  because  she  had  come  from  the  East  called 
her  “the  Boston  Woman.’’  There  were  fifteen  hundred  of  them  on  that 
far-away  frontier.  They  gave  Mrs.  Miller  a little  house  with  a garden 
and  fruit  trees.  In  1901  she  secured  a ranch  of  forty  acres  at  Toppenish, 
Ore.,  on  the  railroad,  as  a part  of  that  which  went  by  Government  grant 
to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  She  placed  a man  on  the  ranch 
who  irrigated  it  and  grew  alfalfa.  In  1902  this  ranch  was  named  the 
Emily  C.  Miller  ranch,  in  honor  of  Mrs.  Miller,  who  had  retired  from 
the  active  service.  Later,  this  work  was  transferred  to  other  care.  The 
young  Indians,  educated,  Christian,  are  the  hope  of  their  race.  They 
are  forming  Queen  Esther  Circles,  Epworth  Leagues,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
and  the  future  churches. 

The  future  of  the  Indian  work  has  been  determined  in  the  last  few 
years  by  the  success  of  Haskell  Institute,  the  largest  Government  Indian 
school,  located  at  Lawrence,  Kan.,  with  an  enrollment  of  seven  hundred 
Indians  above  fourteen  years  of  age,  from  seventy-one  different  tribes. 
One  hundred  and  five  boys  and  girls  at  Haskell  Institute  expressed  a 
preference  for  the  Methodist  Church.  For  some  time  the  Society  has 
supported  a Young  Women’s  Christian  Association  worker  among  Metho- 
dist students  here.  The  new  Esther  Home  at  Lawrence  provides  a home 
for  Indian  girls  who  attend  the  Government  school.  About  1913  a fine 
Christian  Indian  visited  every  tent  on  Ponca  reservation  and  won  many 
Indians  to  Christ.  The  success  which  these  young  people  had  with  their 
own  people  and  the  popularity  of  the  Christian  social  settlement  is  an 
indication  of  the  way  which  missions  may  take  under  present  conditions. 


[156] 


Immigrant  and  City  Work 


Immigrant  and  City  Work 


Name 

Location 

Ellis  Island  and  Immigrant  Girls*  Home 

New  York  City 

East  Boston  Immigrant  Home 

East  Boston,  Mass. 

Glenn  Home 

Cincinnati,  Ohio 

Esther  Home 

Cincinnati,  Ohio 

Esther  Home 

Chicago,  111. 

Anthracite  Slavonic  Mission 

Hazelton,  Penn. 

Hull  Street  Medical  Mission 

Boston,  Mass. 

Marcy  Center 

Chicago,  111. 

Portland  Settlement  Center 

Portland,  Oregon 

Epworth  Home  for  Girls 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Campbell  Settlement 

Gary,  Ind. 

[158] 


X 


IMMIGRANT  AND  CITY  WORK 


* * * 

STANDING  on  the  balcony  of  an  immigrant  station  and  watching 
foreign  people  as  they  come  from  the  steerage  through  the  gate  of 
the  land,  one  is  impressed  with  the  orderliness  and  dispatch  with  which 
women  with  shawls  over  their  heads,  mothers  with  children,  and  men 
with  bundles  are  disposed  of.  It  is  a great  system,  this  receiving  of  a 
multitude,  with  a rapid  examination  of  every  eye,  the  quick  detection  of 
disease,  the  decisive  division  of  people  into  little  groups,  the  bunking  and 
feeding  of  those  in  detention.  Banks  to  change  money,  courts  to  settle 
claims,  clerks  to  sell  lunches,  agents  with  railroad  tickets,  all  are  at  hand 
to  facilitate  the  movement  of  the  great  army  of  strangers  within  the  gates. 

Every  care  has  been  taken  for  their  reception  into  the  country.  From 
a Governmental  standpoint,  one  question  only  is  in  the  minds  of  the 
officials:  Have  these  people,  in  the  light  of  immigrant  laws,  a right  to 
come  in?  Once  accepted,  like  all  other  races  in  the  nation,  they  must 
shift  for  themselves.  Four  hundred  thousand  immigrants  landed  in,  1888. 
Since  1 889  there  have  been  other  persons  to  meet  the  women  and  chil- 
dren,— the  missionaries.  Moved  with  sympathy  for  immigrants  as  they 
passed  on  to  the  checkered  experiences  of  strangers  in  a strange  land  and 
with  a desire  to  guide  them  past  the  pitfalls  laid  for  their  unwary  steps, 
the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  opened  immigrant  Homes  at 
ports  of  entry  to  the  United  States. 

Superstition,  idolatry,  Sabbath-breaking  and  anarchy  accompanied 
this  great  throng.  People  feared  lest  the  poison  entering  there  should 
spread  throughout  the  life  of  the  nation.  After  the  assassination  of 
President  McKinley  the  additional  motive  of  good  Americans  was  self- 
preservation.  Three  lines  of  work  were  established  by  the  Society  during 
the  next  thirty  years  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  foreign  born : The  welcome 
at  the  gate,  which  was  protective  and  preventive  work,  done  with  the  help 


[159] 


of  Immigrant  Homes ; work  to  supplement  the  immigrant’s  adjustment  to 
a new  environment,  through  relief  work,  education  and  medical  missions; 
Americanization  work  through  well-developed,  departmentalized  Chris- 
tian social  settlements. 

The  Society  has  had  two  Immigrant  Homes  and  the  same  type  of 
work  done  by  a department  of  two  Deaconess  Homes.  At  first  it  was 
difficult  to  get  passes  for  the  missionaries  to  the  immigrant  stations.  The 
commissioners  used  every  means  of  discouragement,  saying  that  it  was 
not  a place  where  women  could  or  should  work.  According  to  late 
reports,  however,  at  New  York  alone  there  are  several  such  workers.  They 
soon  were  appreciated  by  the  commissioners,  and  their  assistance  has 
become  invaluable  to  the  women  and  children.  The  requisite  for  this 
service  is  common  sense  coupled  with  kind  hearts,  while  added  experience 
gives  them  tact.  The  Homes  are  much  alike  in  character.  Considering 
the  enormous  number  of  people  passing  through  the  stations,  the  number 
of  those  left  stranded  on  the  edge  of  the  shore  does  not  seem  overwhelm- 
ing. Yet  the  Homes  very  quickly  fill  up  with  girls  who  have  imperfect 
addresses,  with  families  detained  by  a sick  child  and  with  those  who 
seek  work  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Homes. 

The  dangers  for  those  people  are  not  all  physical.  One  of  the 
requirements  for  entrance  is  that  each  person  be  equipped  with  not 
less  than  a certain  sum  of  money.  Knowing  this,  designing  women  would 
attempt  to  decoy  girls  to  intelligence  offices,  where  an  exorbitant  fee  would 
be  charged  for  finding  them  employment.  There  were  other  women 
whose  designs  were  far  more  sinister,  and  who  were  harder  to  circumvent. 
It  took  women  of  poise  and  experience  to  keep  track  of  the  white  slavers 
and  prevent  them  from  luring  their  victims  to  disaster. 

The  Immigrant  Home  at  Philadelphia  was  provided  for  a year  only. 
The  house  was  not  well  located  nor  adapted  to  the  work.  So  the  Con- 
ference Society  enlarged  the  Philadelphia  Deaconess  Home  and  made 
immigrant  work  a department  of  the  deaconess  work.  A large  number 
of  Polaks  and  Russians  were  coming.  A deaconess  met  steamers  and 
arranged  for  the  shelter  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  girls  and  secured  situa- 
tions for  many  of  them  during  the  first  year.  In  1912  the  old  Detention 
House,  a disgrace  to  civilization,  was  done  away  with  and  the  new 
immigrant  quarters  were  placed  at  Gloucester,  N.  J.  The  work  of  the 


[160] 


department  at  Philadelphia  has  always  been  in  a great  success  due  to 
the  faithfulness  and  ability  of  the  specialized  worker  which  the  Confer- 
ence  Society  has  supported  there. 

New  York  Immigrant  Home — January  14,  1888,  the  Society 
opened  a girls’  lodging  house  near  Castle  Garden,  the  immigrant  station 
at  New  York,  before  Ellis  Island  was  opened.  In  1 890  three  thousand 
girls  were  sheltered  and  cared  for  in  this  Home.  The  next  year  No.  9 
State  Street,  a five-story  commodious  house,  was  rented.  This  stood 
near  the  barge  office,  where  all  discharged  immigrants  now  land.  When 
it  was  first  opened  the  principal  nationalities  of  the  immigrants  were  Eng- 
lish, Scotch,  Welsh,  Irish  and  a large  number  of  Italians.  Ten  years 
later  thirty-three  countries  were  represented  by  the  newcomers.  Many 
Finns  began  coming  in  1901 . All  unmindful  of  the  incongruity  of  plac- 
ing these  women  with  shawls  over  their  heads,  from  the  fields  of  the  Old 
World,  in  conventional  homes  to  wait  skillfully  on  table  and  deftly  to 
handle  delicate  glass  and  china,  people  largely  sought  the  immigrants  as 
domestic  servants.  Yet,  very  soon  these  same  awakened  girls  would  don 
hat  and  coat  selected  with  taste,  and  meet  all  the  expectations  of  industry 
and  thrift. 

In  the  winter  months,  when  immigration  was  slight,  the  missionaries 
would  conduct  sewing  schools  for  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  people.  A 
Swedish  Sunday-school  was  organized  and  hundreds  of  garments,  shoes 
and  hats  were  given  away  to  those  within  and  outside  the  building. 

At  the  time  of  the  Titanic  disaster  in  1912,  the  Woman’s  Relief 
Committee  telegraphed  for  accommodations  for  steerage  passengers  on 
board  the  Carpathian . During  the  war  there  was  a low  number  of 
immigrants,  still  Ellis  Island  received  two  thousand  a week  and  there 
were  several  hundred  women  and  children  in  the  detention  rooms.  Some 
were  public  charges.  Many  got  in  before  the  war,  but  their  cases  were 
not  settled.  There  still  remains  work  for  the  women,  although  the 
Immigrant  Home  was  closed  in  1920,  at  the  expiration  of  the  lease. 
Another  house  has  now  been  secured. 

Boston  Immigrant  Home — The  Immigrant  Home  at  72-74 
Marginal  Street,  East  Boston,  was  opened  in  1 890.  The  work  had 


[ 161  ] 


begun  two  years  earlier,  but  the  large  proportions  outlined  for  this  mis- 
sionary cause  required  time  to  bring  plans  to  maturity.  The  $14,000 
Home  secured  had  two  salesrooms  on  the  first  floor,  and  fourteen  rooms 
above.  The  furniture  and  fixtures  for  the  Home  and  its  chapel  were 
donated  byl  the  Society’s  auxiliaries  and  by  business  firms  of  the  city. 
That  year  it  sheltered  eight  hundred  and  five  people  and  secured  employ- 
ment for  seventy-five.  In  the  early  days  of  the  immigrant  arrivals,  English- 
speaking  people  were  in  the  majority.  The  name  “Immigrant  Home’’  in 
large  letters  was  placed  over  the  door,  while  the  name  in  small  type 
beneath  the  sign  was  in  the  Swedish  language.  In  later  years  the  name  of 
the  Immigrant  Home  could  well  have  been  written  in  Yiddish.  The 
Home  was  conveniently  located,  being  opposite  the  wharf  of  the  Cunard 
liners.  A missionary  was  also  sent  to  Charlestown,  where  the  Old 
Dominion  Line  discharged  its  passengers.  The  special  interests  to  which 
the  Boston  corps  of  workers  devoted  themselves  include  relief  for  hus- 
bands and  fathers  with  helpless  infants  whose  mothers  had  died  on  the 
way  over  or  soon  after  arrival.  One  woman  enroute  from  Spokane, 
Wash.,  had  a sick  child  and  was  glad  to  take  refuge  there.  They  received 
girls  sick  and  dying.  Often  the  dead  were  buried  from  the  Home  chapel, 
and  brides  were  married  there.  The  Swedes  used  the  chapel  for  meet- 
ings. Thanksgiving  and  Christmas  celebrations  added  to  the  Christian 
atmosphere  of  the  Home.  Sewing  classes  of  sixty  girls  of  different  nation- 
alities were  conducted  for  them  while  in  the  Home.  A quick  rush  of 
strangers  often  occurred.  Once,  an  hour  after  the  notice,  fifty  people 
were  cared  for.  In  1902  the  capacity  of  the  Home  was  strained  to 
the  utmost.  Ninety-five  were  sheltered  in  a night.  The  Swedish  people 
had  the  largest  representation.  In  1 905  a Medical  Mission  was  opened 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Immigrant  Bureau. 

The  new  Home  so  badly  needed  was  dedicated  in  1912.  It  is  a 
handsome  building  of  brick  and  granite,  five  stories  high  with  eighty  beds, 
costing  $30,000,  and  surmounted  by  a granite  cross  outlined  with  electric 
lights.  This  can  be  seen  far  down  the  bay.  Very  difficult  have  been 
the  war  years  for  this  branch  of  the  service.  So  many  children  were  left 
alone.  Here  and  there  was  much  sickness  among  them.  They  were  so 
destitute  of  clothing  and  shoes.  One  mother  had  five  fine  boys,  but  only 
one  pair  of  shoes  for  the  lot.  Another  had  six  bare-footed  little  girls 


[162] 


Nine  o’clock  of  Easter  morning,  1917,  sixty-seven  women  and  children 
arrived,  Portuguese,  Greek,  Italian,  English  and  Polish. 

In  1918  the  East  Boston  Home  had  the  task  of  caring  for  interned 
German  women  sent  to  them  by  the  Government.  Twenty  of  them  were 
very  sick,  while  a more  distressed  set  of  people  would  be  hard  to  find. 
Their  clothing,  lost  between  Manila  and  Boston,  was  finally  located. 
Doctors,  lawyers,  professional  men,  preachers,  immigrant  service  men, 
Naval  Reserve  men  and  people  of  all  nations  in  life  were  interested  in 
these  aliens.  During  extreme  cold  weather  twenty-five  Italian  women 
and  children  arrived  with  very  little  clothing. 

Work  AT  Angel  Island — Previous  to  1911  the  steamer  work 
at  San  Francisco  was  carried  on  by  the  missionaries  of  the  Oriental  Home. 
Most  of  the  passengers  were  Japanese  and  Chinese.  In  1912  the  Immi- 
grant Station  at  Angel  Island  received  all  immigrants  coming  into  the 
country  through  the  Golden  Gate.  In  response  to  a request  from  the 
National  Department  of  Immigration,  a deaconess  from  the  Home  in 
San  Francisco  served  at  the  island.  The  first  year  forty-seven  girls  were 
definitely  aided.  Many  of  them  were  destitute  girls  who  were  deported. 
Many  were  Oriental  and  little  could  be  done  for  them.  The  deaconess 
distributed  Scripture  texts  printed  on  post  cards  in  Chinese  and  other 
languages  to  the  passing  travelers.  “Picture  brides”  constituted  no 
small  part  of  the  missionary’s  task.  The  principal  thing  was  to  help 
them  make  arrangements  for  legal  marriage  in  America.  In  spite 
of  the  war,  regular  boats  from  the  Orient  arrived  each  week  at  Angel 
Island.  Panama  boats,  too,  cast  anchor  there,  bringing  Mexicans, 
Jamaicans  and  South  Americans. 

The  missionaries  in  1913  asked  for  good  books  in  Oriental  languages 
with  which  to  start  a library.  During  war  time,  while  the  number  of 
incoming  foreigners  decreased  on  the  Eastern  seaboard,  such  was  not  the 
case  at  Angel  Island.  Oriental  and  Russian- Jewish  immigration  was 
as  large  as  ever.  Thirty-five  different  nationalities  were  represented  at 
the  port  during  the  last  year. 

The  work  of  the  missionary,  preventive  and  protective  as  it  was,  did 
not  help  the  foreign  born  to  adapt  herself  to  the  new  environment.  That 
help  was  given  through  the  mission  centres  located  where  the  people 
from  other  lands  segregated  themselves.  Many  of  these  missions  were 


[163] 


opened  by  Conferences  for  foreign-born  people  in  their  own  section. 
They  were  patterned  after  one  of  the  types  of  missions  established  by 
the  National  Society,  as  described  in  the  next  section. 

CITY  SETTLEMENT  WORK 

Glenn  Home — When  Glenn  Home,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  was  opened 
in  1891,  the  Society  felt  that  it  was  the  nearest  approach  to  the  ideal 
city  mission  within  its  control.  For  eighteen  years  no  effort  was  spared 
to  keep  Glenn  Home  work  in  the  front  rank  of  city  missions.  The  Home 
is  a four-story  brownstone  house  of  fifteen  rooms,  on  a quiet,  residential 
street,  where  people  of  the  wealthier  class  once  lived.  Parallel  to  this 
street  ran  the  thoroughfares  of  the  needy  section  of  Cincinnati.  The 
building,  together  with  furnishings,  was  purchased  for  $12,000.  Provi- 
sion for  it  came  under  the  general  rule  for  city  work, — “the  moneys  for 
city  missions  should  be  a distinct  fund  and  raised  by  means  which  would 
not  interfere  with  the  interests  of  the  general  treasury.”  The  purpose 
of  this  work  in  those  early  days  was  quaintly  expressed  as  follows:  “To 
prepare  a home  for  those  who  labor  in  the  city.  To  help  prepare  mis- 
sionaries for  service,  to  co-operate  with  other  organizations  in  furnishing 
industrial  training  and  securing  employment  for  poor  people,  to  be  used 
as  a depository  for  clothing  and  delicacies  for  the  sick.” 

A year  later  the  use  of  two  buildings  was  donated  by  the  “Big  Four” 
Railroad  for  the  branch  work  of  Glenn  Home, — one  at  the  corner  of 
Fifth  and  Front  streets,  known  as  Rhea  Deakin  Mission;  the  second 
on  Ramsey  Street.  Kindergartens,  mothers’  meetings  and  sewing  schools 
were  opened.  A coffee  room  at  Rhea  Deakin  Mission  was  opened  for 
the  railroad  men,  where  they  could  get  hot  coffee  or  lemonade,  and  find 
reading  matter  for  their  use  during  rest  hours. 

Among  the  first  enterprises  of  the  Glenn  Home  Board  was  the  Cin- 
cinnati Cooking  Schools.  This  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  cooking 
classes  in  the  high  and  elementary  schools  of  the  city.  The  school  board 
granted  a room  in  the  respective  buildings  and  the  ladies  furnished  kitchen 
outfits,  as  gas  range,  tables  and  cooking  utensils.  Being  adept  in  making 
things  go,  and  awakening  interest  in  the  city,  the  managers  provided  free 
instruction  for  a large  number  of  pupils  without  the  use  of  expensive 
teachers  and  appointments.  The  cost  of  this  enterprise  within  three  years 


[164] 


was  $3,250,  much  of  it  paid  by  outside  friends  of  the  Society.  Tht 
department  work  of  Glenn  Home  was  wonderfully  developed  and  syste- 
matized. To  fully  appreciate  the  organization  in  detail  would  require 
intensive  study.  Its  work  stood  on  the  roll  in  general  as  follows: 

( 1 ) Religious : Sunday-school  and  evangelical  services  at  the  Mis- 
sion. Annual  baptism  service.  Missionary  auxiliaries. 

(2)  Educational:  Three  kindergartens,  one  at  Glenn  Home;  one 
at  the  Mission  on  Front  Street;  one  at  Riverside  Reading  Room. 

(3)  Industrial:  Three  sewing  classes  for  little  girls,  a young  ladies’ 
industrial  club  for  ages  from  sixteen  to  twenty.  Two  kitchen  garden 
classes,  and  technical  classes  for  boys. 

(4)  Missionary:  Glenn  Home  Auxiliary,  children’s  band,  mothers’ 
club,  city  hospital  visitation  and  distribution  of  flowers. 

(5 ) Social  department. 

In  1897  a boarding  department  was  added.  This  provided  a Chris- 
tian Home  that  year  for  fifty  girls  at  different  periods.  The  Home 
co-operated  with  Juvenile  Courts,  and  supervised  outings  and  festivals. 

Besides  the  seven  workers  who  gave  all  their  time  to  the  interests  of 
the  Home,  there  were  sixteen  special  teachers  and  helpers. 

The  Glenn  Home  work  finally  included  service  at  three  other  centres. 
The  Main  Mission  on  Fourth  Street,  the  Glenn  Mission  at  Front  and 
Fifth  streets,  and  Riverside  Cottage,  back  of  the  Fleischman  distilleries. 
In  1910  this  Riverside  Mission  took  the  form  of  a settlement.  The 
kindergarten  was  abandoned  and  the  principal  feature  was  mothers’ 
meetings.  This  idea  was  to  help  them  to  help  themselves. 

Two  years  later  the  workers  opened  two  associate  missions,  a kinder- 
garten across  the  river  in  Covington,  and  four  private  kindergartens  in 
Cincinnati.  This  change  was  necessitated  by  additional  building  of  the 
Big  Four  Railroad  companies. 

In  1912  permission  was  granted  the  Glenn  Home  Board  to  collect 
$50,000  toward  providing  a new  Home  for  girls;  this  done,  the  depart- 
mental work  could  be  enlarged.  Already  they  had  divided  the  sewing 
classes  into  two  groups  of  ninety  each.  The  special  mission  of  the  Home 
was  to  furnish  a Flome  for  girls  who  had  a wage  below  ten  dollars  a 


[165] 


week  and  guard  them  from  cheap  boarding  houses  which  were  often  dens 
of  vice  under  the  cloak  of  respectability.  The  new  building,  located  on 
West  Fourth  Street,  Cincinnati,  was  named  Esther  House,  after  Queen 
Esther  girls,  who  gave  $1 ,000  to  name  the  large  front  room  library.  The 
old  Home  building  was  turned  over  to  kindergartens,  mothers’  clubs,  day 
nursery,  club  and  reading  room  for  West  Side  women  and  their  guests, 
and  at  present  is  Friendship  Home  for  Negro  girls,  supported  by  the 
Texas  (Negro)  Conference.  The  girls  who  have  lived  at  Esther  Home 
come  from  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Indiana,  Illinois  and 
New  York.  It  has  been  a wonderful  success  as  a Christian  Home  and 
social  centre.  Money  is  being  collected  and  plans  are  matured  for 
extended  missionary  work  among  little  children  and  for  the  development 
of  a social  centre.  A mothers’  memorial  building  will  be  part  of  the 
equipment  for  this  forward  work. 

Anthracite  Slavonic  Mission — The  Anthracite  Slavonic  Mis- 
sion Home  is  at  Hazelton,  Pa.  Previous  to  1 9 1 3 it  was  on  the  list  of  the 
deaconess  Homes,  with  Hazelton  as  a centre.  The  deaconess  and  mis- 
sionary pastor  worked  among  the  foreign  peoples  of  the  coal  region.  Very 
early  foreign-born  girls  were  trained  to  assist  the  deaconess.  Buildings 
were  secured  for  the  mission  Home,  and  in  1913  the  Slavonic  Home 
became  a missionary  institution.  It  was  felt  that  this  change  would  not 
only  meet  local  needs  more  fully,  but  the  broader  opportunity  would 
induce  its  friends  to  aid  more  generously  with  the  mission  work.  Previous 
to  this  time  sewing  was  the  principal  feature;  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  girls  went  through  the  garment  making  class.  The  change  to  a mis- 
sionary institution  made  feasible  a domestic  science  course  and  cooking 
classes,  also  an  English  department,  which  would  hold  as  its  aim  the 
preparation  of  the  foreign-born  for  seminary,  high  school  and  for  business. 
A medical  dispensary  was  a new  department.  Some  of  the  serious  cases 
were  taken  to  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  Hospital  at  Philadelphia. 
The  dispensary  had  no  resident  doctor,  but  the  very  best  physicians  in 
the  town  gave  their  services  to  the  mission. 

In  later  years  the  greater  number  of  people  in  mission  classes  were 
Polish  and  Slovak.  The  anthracite  community  to  which  the  Home  min- 
istered was  large,  and  missions  were  established  in  a number  of  places. 
Among  them  was  Berwick,  where  a Home  was  provided  the  mission  by 


[166] 


the  American  Car  and  Foundry  Company.  Foreign  women  would  come 
to  weave  rugs  and  carpets  and  tell  the  missionary  their  troubles.  It  became 
both  the  Home  and  the  workshop  of  the  mission.  Other  mission  points 
included  Zeddo,  Stockton,  Cramberry,  Hollywood,  Thomboldt,  Beaver, 
Freeland  and  Meliusville.  At  Freeland  there  were  one  hundred  Slavic 
girls  in  one  cooking  class.  The  classes  in  the  mission  stations  consisted 
of  cooking,  sewing,  embroidery,  carpentry,  English,  Slovak,  music,  kin- 
dergarten, Junior  League  and  Sunday-school.  During  the  war  these 
people  made  one  of  the  most  patriotic  responses  to  needs  of  the  times 
recorded  in  the  annals  of  the  Society.  Two  classes  of  boys  and  three  of 
girls  knit  for  the  Red  Cross.  They  had  a large  Red  Cross  auxiliary 
wholly  of  foreign  girls  and  gave  money  for  the  Belgian  Relief  Fund. 
During  the  influenza  epidemic  the  missionaries  were  most  competent 
nurses. 

The  process  of  Americanization  has  been  carried  on  for  twenty-five 
years  in  this  great  foreign  centre,  yet  conditions  are  such  that  every  effort 
at  the  command  of  the  missionary  is  needed  to  overcome  vice  conditions 
in  these  mining  towns. 

Hull  Street  Settlement  and  Medical  Mission — Relief  in 
the  way  of  food  and  clothing  is  very  necessary  and  greatly  appreciated 
by  the  immigrant.  But  if  bodily  ills  continually  wear  down  his  physique, 
he  is  not  in  a fair  way  to  adjust  himself  to  any  environment.  Accord- 
ingly the  Medical  Mission  at  Hull  Street,  Boston,  stands  as  a powerful 
aid  to  the  foreign-born  in  his  new  start. 

In  1 892  three  students  at  the  Boston  University  School  of  Theology 
induced  the  City  Missionary  Society  to  open  settlement  work  among  the 
foreign  people  of  Boston.  This  “University  Settlement”  was  located  in 
the  West  End  of  the  city,  at  Poplar  Street.  The  work  was  social  in 
character,  with  organized  house-to-house  visitations,  distribution  of  flowers 
and  young  people’s  evening  socials.  The  next  year  in  the  North  End  a 
house  on  Charter  Street  was  rented  by  the  City  Society  and  furnished  by 
the  Epworth  League  of  the  District.  This  second  mission  was  called 
“The  Epworth  League  House  and  University  Settlement.”  At  Hull 
Street  was  the  medical  dispensary,  an  outgrowth  of  immigrant  work.  In 
1893  both  West  End  and  North  End  settlements  came  to  Hull  Street 
Mission,  when  the  City  Missionary  Society  withdrew  and  left  the 


[167] 


Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  to  carry  on  the  work.  There  were 
30,000  people  in  a radius  of  a mile  and  a half.  The  enlarged  work 
included  four  departments, — educational,  social,  spiritual  and  medical. 
Clubs  for  boys  and  girls  were  early  featured.  The  distinctive  work  was 
along  medical  lines.  The  medical  department  was  thoroughly  equipped 
with  the  latest  surgical  and  medical  appliances.  It  had  there  in  1906 
thirty-two  children,  twenty  of  whom  were  cripples.  Many  ear,  nose  and 
throat  operations  were  performed.  The  head  of  the  department  organ- 
ized a very  important  class  in  nurse  training.  The  medical  department 
workers  consisted  of  head  nurse,  four  pupil  nurses,  two  internes  and  a 
volunteer  staff  of  fifteen  physicians.  There  was  no  vacation  here.  Day 
after  day,  night  after  night,  these  clinics  were  open.  No  call  was  ever 
refused. 

In  1911  the  nurse  training  department  was  dropped  and  nurses  from 
the  hospital  at  Newburyport  were  sent  to  take  their  district  and  dispensary 
work  at  Hull  Street  Mission.  Later  the  hospital  at  Worcester  and  the 
deaconess  hospital  sent  nurses  also.  Medical  lectures  were  given  to  the 
women  of  the  neighborhood.  In  that  foreign  district  of  30,000  people 
the  children  swarmed  the  streets.  Natural  curiosity  and  sick  spells  had 
made  the  little  ones  familiar  with  the  work  of  the  medical  mission.  With 
childish  propensity  for  imitation,  the  girls  held  imaginary  clinics  on  the 
doorsteps  of  the  mission.  Appreciative  workers  organized  the  children 
into  a children’s  nurses’  club.  The  Little  Nurses’  Class  was  a happy 
thought.  They  learned  many  useful  lessons  and  wound  bandages  and 
carried  home  much  useful  information  to  their  mothers.  The  children’s 
work  aroused  interest  in  the  entire  community,  even  among  the  daily  press. 

A dental  clinic  was  the  latest  addition  to  this  Medical  Mission. 

Marcy  CENTER — Thirty  years  ago,  in  a dark  room  next  to  a saloon 
in  Maxwell  Street  in  Chicago,  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
opened  a Sunday-school  for  the  street  roughs.  The  young  people  had 
never  seen  a Protestant  Bible,  nor  been  at  a Protestant  service  before. 
Their  parents  were  accustomed  even  to  bury  their  dead  without  religious 
service.  Five  years  later  the  little  mission  moved  from  the  room  owned 
by  the  saloonkeeper  into  its  own  small  house, — which  was  light,  clean 
and  cheerful. 

Such  was  the  humble  beginning  of  Marcy  Center,  one  of  the  best  of 


[ 168] 


the  Americanization  agencies  in  our  great  cities.  The  Society  willingly 
labored  among  all  nationalities  and  creeds,  but  the  line  of  work  in  Chicago 
was  determined  by  the  people  who  gathered  in  the  Ghetto  district.  Marcy 
Center  ministered  first  to  the  Bohemian,  then  to  the  Jew. 

The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  was  not  alone  in  this  enter- 
prise, for  at  first  it  was  a joint  affair  of  three  organizations.  The  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  paid  the  salary  of  a 
preacher  to  the  Bohemians.  The  City  Missionary  Society  of  Chicago 
defrayed  current  expenses  in  part.  The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  workers  aided  in  the  Sunday-school  and  in  social  and  religious 
work.  In  1889,  however,  after  Marcy  Home  was  built  and  Jews  re- 
placed Bohemians,  the  appropriation  of  the  Missionary  Society  was  with- 
drawn, the  City  Missionary  Society  withdrew  its  preacher  and  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  was  left  alone  amid  40,000  people, 
only  1 ,000  of  whom  were  Americans.  One  source  of  help  was  the 
Elizabeth  Harrison  Kindergarten  Association,  which  sustained  the  kin- 
dergarten at  Marcy  Home  until  it  became  self-supporting.  The  young 
people  improved  rapidly.  The  boys  became  more  gentle  in  manner,  the 
girls  formed  King’s  Daughters’  Circles,  the  Industrial  School  was  full. 
In  these  classes  they  repeated  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  Beatitudes, 
the  Psalms  and  the  Lord’s  Prayer,  so  that  those  who  did  not  attend  church 
would  grow  familiar  with  those  gems  of  Biblical  literature.  The  reading 
room  was  well  patronized  and  religious  services  were  held  in  the 
language  of  the  people. 

In  five  years  the  Society  had  the  lot  for  a fine  large  building  and  was 
industriously  laying  aside  the  money  to  build.  In  1895  the  old  house 
was  moved  to  the  back  of  the  lot  and  a brick  house  three  stories  high,  _ 
48  x 64  feet,  was  erected.  Part  of  the  house  was  rented  until  the  expenses 
incurred  could  be  diminished  to  a sum  that  could  be  conveniently  carried 
for  the  time  being. 

The  new  building  was  completed  in  March,  1 896.  During  the  next 
two  years  2,200  persons  a month  passed  in  and  out  of  industrial  classes, 
kindergarten  and  Sunday-school. 

A dispensary  was  opened,  the  sign  for  the  dispensary  being  the  gift 
of  a Jewish  friend.  This  soon  became  one  of  the  best  medical  missions 
in  the  city.  The  staff  of  three  physicians,  one  surgeon,  and  a district 


[169] 


nurse  was  increased  to  seven.  An  eye  and  ear  specialist  gave  his  time 
without  charge,  as  did  all  the  medical  staff.  During  the  years  they 
handled  from  3,668  to  7,600  cases  yearly,  mostly  women  and  children. 
The  clinics  were  held  every  afternoon,  and  tired  doctors  would  have  to 
lock  the  doors  at  six  o’clock.  One  day  a little  boy  got  in  after  hours, 
however,  with  his  little  sister,  for  she  had  burned  her  arm  and  her  mother 
had  put  black  ink  on  it  as  “first  aid.*’  By  1 906  the  dispensary  was 
self-supporting  and  had  outgrown  its  quarters.  The  surgical  cases  were 
taken  to  the  Marcy  Center  Ward  at  West  End  Hospital,  and  not  until 
1910,  when  the  entire  building  was  remodeled,  was  the  dispensary  en- 
larged. The  new  quarters  consisted  of  four  office  rooms  and  a large 
waiting  room. 

The  expense  of  these  cases  amounted  to  over  $2,000.  One  thou- 
sand was  paid  by  the  National  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society, 
$500  by  Rock  River  Conference  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
and  $600  by  the  patients  themselves.  Conditions  in  Chicago  in  1898 
were  far  from  right.  Sweatshops,  low  wages,  long  hours  and  child  labor 
furnished  the  problems  of  old  age  and  youth  alike,  hence  taxed  the 
strength  and  ingenuity  of  the  workers  to  the  limit.  As  the  Jews  and 
Roman  Catholics  increased  in  number,  the  direct  religious  teaching  was 
not  forced. 

Those  experienced  in  settlement  work  know  that  different  nationalities 
are  not  always  congenial  club  members,  even  at  a mission.  The  Jewish 
ladies  of  one  street  have  their  exclusive  circles,  the  Italian  ladies  of 
the  next  square  group  themselves  in  another  place.  Lines  are  more  sharply 
drawn  than  one  would  realize.  It  is  not  surprising  then  to  read  in  the 
records  of  a Bohemian  Mothers’  Prayer  Meeting  and  a Jewish  Mothers’ 
Club.  There  was  intense  antipathy  between  the  Bohemian  and  the  Jew. 
The  Bohemian  people  were  thrifty,  anxious  to  own  property,  and  moved 
away  from  the  Ghetto  as  fast  as  they  had  savings  to  invest.  Then  the 
Russian  and  Polish  Jews  moved  in.  The  latter  would  not  come  for  direct 
religious  teaching,  but  were  delighted  to  take  advantage  of  the  kinder- 
garten, sewing  classes,  manual  training  and  music  lessons.  The  old  cot- 
tage at  the  back  of  the  lot  was  first  rented,  then  used  for  kitchen  garden, 
dressmaking  and  cooking  classes,  and  was  finally  torn  down  and  the  space 


[170] 


where  it  stood  used  for  a playground.  By  1 900  there  were  eight  resi- 
dent workers,  some  of  them  deaconesses. 

Not  only  was  the  dispensary  well  housed,  but  the  day  nursery  was 
first-class,  with  its  diet  kitchen,  its  bath,  its  sleeping  room  and  large  play 
room.  The  workers  kept  a milk  station  in  summer,  a closet  supply  in 
winter,  and  provided  outings  during  the  hot  summer  months.  During 
1914,  thirty-two  thousand  nine  hundred  and  ten  had  part  in  the  activities 
of  the  Center. 

Outings  in  the  country  were  popular.  The  children  dearly  loved  to 
“see  the  cows’  nests’’  and  was  surprised  to  learn  that  potatoes  grew  in 
the  ground. 

A new  feature  of  the  work  in  1 909  was  evening  educational  classes 
for  Jewish  men  and  women  recently  arrived  in  the  United  States.  Marcy 
Center  also  had  a Saturday  Bible  class  of  Jewish  children,  with  total 
enrollment  of  2,349  pupils.  The  Marcy  Center  Woman’s  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  auxiliary  had  twenty-five  members,  all  Jewish  mothers. 
In  May,  1918,  during  the  Baby  Welfare  Campaign,  over  1,200  babies 
were  measured  and  weighed,  and  2,000  vaccinated  at  Marcy  Center. 

The  ambition  of  the  Society  for  the  settlement  was  to  develop  special- 
ized departments.  These  departments  were  doing  prime  work  by  1907. 
They  include  today,  medical  and  surgical  work,  kindergarten,  gymna- 
sium, sewing  school,  manual  training  classes,  cooking  school,  musical 
training,  boys’  clubs  (athletic,  temperance  and  anti-cigarette  leagues), 
department  of  societies  and  entertainments,  penny  bank  clubs, 
domestic  science,  day  nursery,  night  school,  teacher  training  in  the 
Sunday-school,  kitchen  garden  and  supply  department. 

At  the  opening  the  work  was  called  the  Bohemian  Mission  because 
of  the  number  of  Bohemians  within  its  zone  of  work.  In  later  years  it 
has  been  called  the  Jewish  Mission. 

The  corps  of  workers  in  this  great  Settlement  includes  a superintend- 
ent and  associate,  nurse,  musical  director,  boys’  director,  missionary  visi- 
tor. two  internes  and  a cook.  Students  from  Lewis  Institute  assist  in  the 
departments  of  sewing  and  domestic  science,  and  outside  physicians  and 
surgeons  are  generous  with  their  medical  and  surgical  services.  Marcy 
Center  became  the  church,  the  court,  the  social  and  recreational  centre 


[171] 


and  refuge  in  the  hour  of  need  for  the  neighborhood  in  the  Ghetto  of 
Chicago. 

A Vacation  Bible  School  was  also  conducted  by  these  good  people. 
Fifteen  nations  were  represented,  among  which  were  one  hundred  and 
fifteen  Germans,  eighty-seven  Poles,  sixty-three  Irish,  fifty-four  Slavs, 
twenty-six  Bohemians,  as  well  as  French,  Italians,  Austrians,  Greek, 
Scotch,  Americans,  Lithuanians,  Croatians  and  Jews. 

For  some  time  there  had  been  a desire  to  establish  a Plome  for  work- 
ing girls  which  would  give  them  a good  Home  at  moderate  cost  under 
Christian  supervision.  This  was  opened  in  1912,  and  thirty  girls  could 
be  accommodated  at  Hobbs  House.  Besides  the  mission  centres,  it  gave 
help  to  five  churches  in  the  foreign  district  of  the  city.  Later,  through 
various  adjustments,  this  was  merged  into  Chicago  Esther  Home. 

Portland  Settlement  Center. — Work  for  and  with  the 
foreign-speaking  people  of  Portland,  Oregon,  is  an  important  feature  of 
service  in  the  Northwest. 

Epworth  Home  for  Girls— '-Established  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
this  constitutes  a real  Flome  for  girls  who,  in  many  cases,  have  learned 
nothing  of  the  meaning  of  the  word  before.  Legally  committed  to  its 
watchcare  and  training,  wayward,  erring  lives  are  changed  into  true 
womanliness  by  the  Christian  influences  there  surrounding  them. 

Campbell  Settlement — This  institution  at  Gary,  Indiana,  in  the 
midst  of  a dense  foreign  environment  in  this  great  industrial  center,  is  a 
daily  demonstration  of  Christian  Americanization. 


[172] 


The  Reserve  Army 


Children’s  Homes 


Name 

Mothers’  Jewels 
Watts  de  Peyster 
Peek 


Location 

York,  Nebraska 
Tivoli,  New  York 
Polo,  Illinois 


[174] 


XI 


THE  RESERVE  ARMY 


* * * 

YOUNG  PEOPLE’S  DEPARTMENT 

WHEN  the  average  mother  goes  out  for  the  day  she  takes  the  chil- 
dren with  her.  Very  shortly  after  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  had  started  on  its  road  to  missionary  endeavor,  it  called  upon  its 
young  people  to  go  too.  The  idea  of  Children’s  Bands  or  Mothers’ 
Jewels  came  to  women  in  various  auxiliaries  during  the  first  six  years  of 
the  Society’s  existence.  Several  early  collected  the  little  folks  into  mis- 
sion groups  and  began  to  raise  money  for  scholarships  with  which  to 
support  beneficiaries  of  the  Society.  Attention  was  drawn  to  the  greater 
possibilities  of  young  people  in  missionary  work  by  the  following  letter 
from  a boy  in  Taunton,  Mass.: 

9 Chester  Avenue, 

Taunton,  Mass. 

Dear  Madam: 

Can  you  find  time  to  read  a letter  from  a workingman’s  little  boy? 
I want  to  help  your  cause,  and  my  father  suggests  that  it  would  be  a good 
thing  to  afford  Methodist  children  the  privilege  of  founding  an  Industrial 
Home  and  have  the  pleasure  of  giving  the  entire  cost  of  purchasing  a 
farm  and  paying  for  the  building.  In  our  great  church  there  should  be 
children  enough  to  raise  one  dollar  apiece  for  such  good  work,  and  then 
it  could  be  called  the  Children’s  Home.  I got  nearly  all  the  inclosed 
dollar  by  going  on  errands  which  I send,  hoping  it  may  stir  up  all  our 
children  to  do  likewise. 

Wishing  you  all  success,  I remain, 

Yours  truly, 

Freddie  Rawcliffe. 

As  a result  of  this  letter  leaders  of  the  Society  decided  to  ask 
each  girl  and  boy  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  earn  one  dollar 


[175] 


besides  paying  a membership  fee  of  twenty-five  cents,  and  to  devote  the 
proceeds  to  this  noble  proposition. 

The  first  official  attention  to  developing  this  branch  of  service  was 
given  in  1 886.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Executive  Board,  previous  to  the 
Annual  Meeting,  Mrs.  H.  C.  McCabe  suggested  that  the  children  be 
organized,  as  a distinct  part  of  the  work.  They  recommended,  there- 
fore, that  Mothers’  Jewels  be  secured  among  babies  and  other  children 
of  six  years  old  and  under  by  the  annual  payment  of  one  dime,  and  that 
this  money  be  invested  in  the  proposed  Children’s  Industrial  Home. 

Next  a young  ladies’  Circle  was  proposed, — to  gather  young  persons 
of  sixteen  and  over  to  work  for  the  cause.  The  management  of  the 
Circles  was  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  girls,  with  boys  as  honorary  mem- 
bers. The  dues  were  to  be  not  less  than  fifty  cents. 

Within  a year  Mothers’  Jewels,  Bands  and  Circles  were  in  full 
swing.  Queen  Esthers,  Merry  Workers,  Happy  Gleaners,  Busy  Bees, 
Look-up  Legions,  Sunbeams,  Sunshine  Weavers  and  Morning  Stars  were 
coming  into  the  Society  by  the  hundreds.  Sixty-four  Conferences  were 
contributing  to  the  fund  for  the  Mothers’  Jewels  Home,  and  the  live 
question  in  the  churches  was,  “Shall  the  new  Mothers’  Jewels*  Home  be 
on  the  frontier  for  orphans,  or  in  the  South  for  illiterate  girls?*’ 

In  1 890  the  Society  realized  that  there  must  be  a superintendent  of 
Young  People’s  work  to  keep  the  Bands  and  Circles  alive,  to*  furnish 
literature  and  entertainment,  and  where  there  was  no  Conference  secretary 
of  Young  People’s  work,  to  organize  new  Jewels,  Bands  and  Circles. 
More  leaflets,  a children’s  paper  and  a badge  were  planned  for. 

The  Bureau  for  Young  People’s  Work  was  divided  into  three  sec- 
tions in  1 893: 

1 . Circles  for  young  ladies  sixteen  or  over,  to  be  called  Queen 
Esthers,  Lucy  Hayes  Circles,  or  Junior  Auxiliaries.  They  were  requested 
to  work  for  the  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  Bible  School  at  Washington. 

2.  Missionary  bands  for  girls  and  boys  under  sixteen.  Their  special 
work  was  to  support  beneficiaries  in  Industrial  Homes  or  the  Mothers’ 
Jewels  Home.  This  was  called  Student  Aid. 

3.  Mothers’  Jewels  for  children  under  six,  the  dues  to  be  used 
exclusively  for  the  Mothers’  Jewels  Home. 


[176] 


Mass  meetings  for  young  people  were  held  at  Ocean  Grove  and  else- 
where. The  work  was  presented  and  the  young  people  rallied  to  the  call 
of  Home  Missions. 

In  1902  the  Bureau  of  Young  People’s  Work  reported  under  two 
divisions, — the  Young  Woman’s  Work  and  Mother’s  Jewels  and  Home 
Guards,  the  latter  taking  the  place  of  the  more  general  name,  Band.  In 
1908  it  was  suggested  that  the  name  Bureau  was  misleading,  in  that 
‘ bureau”  usually  means  a section  of  the  work  of  the  Society  which 
receives  a portion  of  the  funds  of  the  Society  and  applies  it  to  the  needs 
of  its  beneficiaries.  The  young  women  never  were  the  object  of  the 
Society’s  work,  but  co-laborers  together  with  the  auxiliaries.  Again  it 
was  misleading  to  class  young  men  and  women,  boys  and  girls  under  the 
term  young  people.  It  was  deemed  wise,  therefore,  to  divide  the  work 
into  the  Department  of  Young  People’s  Work,  and  that  of  Home  Guards 
and  Mothers’  Jewels,  later  known  as  the  Department  of  Children’s  Work. 

This  arrangement  was  followed  throughout  the  entire  connection,  each 
Conference  electing  two  secretaries,  one  for  young  people  and  one  for 
children’s  work.  The  Department  of  Young  People’s  Work  requested 
the  right  of  an  evening  session  devoted  to  young  women’s  work  in  the 
week  of  the  Annual  Meeting;  that  the  Conference  Secretary  for  young 
people  represent  her  Conference  as  a delegate  at  least  once  in  three 
years;  that  the  reports  of  Young  Women  be  made  in  harmony  with 
those  of  the  Senior  Society. 

These  recommendations,  with  some  changes,  were  adopted  later,  the 
Conference  Young  People’s  Secretary  being  made  an  ex-officio  delegate 
to  the  annual  meeting.  Young  People’s  Rallies  and  Round  Table  Con- 
ferences were  urged  to  stress  systematic  study,  regular  payment  of  dues, 
faithfulness  and  accuracy  in  reporting,  and  assuming  definite  pledges 
for  legitimate  work.  General  missionary  spirit  and  Christian  living 
were  also  stimulated. 

The  Field  Secretaries’  work  for  the  Young  People’s  Department 
included  visits  to  Epworth  League  meetings  and  camp  meetings  of  the 
church,  attendance  at  Lakeside  Assembly  at  Lakeside,  Ohio,  and  at 
Ocean  Grove,  Student  Conferences  of  the  American  Committee  of  the 
Young  Woman’s  Christian  Association  and  conferences  of  the  Young 
People’s  Missionary  Movement,  besides  visits  to  district  officers  and 


[177] 


organization  of  auxiliaries  wherever  needed.  The  aim  of  the  work  has 
been  to  stimulate  Circles  already  formed,  to  keep  in  touch  with  Young 
People’s  Home  Missionary  work  in  every  form  throughout  the*  country, 
and  to  strengthen  weak  places  by  suggestions  and  help. 

In  1912  two  Field  Secretaries  were  elected.  Life  memberships  were 
created  later,  in  honor  of  the  department’s  twenty-fifth  birthday.  Any 
one  paying  fifteen  dollars  could  become  a Queen  Esther  life  member  of 
the  Society.  When  the  day  arrived  one  thousand,  one  hundred  young 
people  had  thus  become  life  members. 

This  money  was  used  for  the  salaries  of  missionaries  in  Industrial 
Homes.  The  last  three  years  the  activities  of  the  Young  People’s  De- 
partment have  included  salaries  for  a missionary  in  Browning  Home, 
Camden,  S.  C. ; Hull  Street  Medical  Mission,  Boston;  and  Bennett 
Academy,  Mathiston,  Miss. ; special  pledges  for  Mothers’  Jewels  Home, 
York,  Neb.,  and  the  Navajo  School  House  at  Farmington,  N.  M. ; the 
name  of  the  library  at  Haven  Home,  Savannah,  Ga. ; and  cash  for  the 
hospital  at  Unalaska,  for  the  Permanent  Deaconess,  and  Permanent 
Missionary  funds.  There  are  now  1 78  Young  Women’s  auxiliaries  and 
2,198  Queen  Esther  Circles,  with  a total  membership  to  date  of  9,090. 
The  grand  total  of  money  supplied  by  the  Young  People’s  Department 
in  the  fiscal  year  1918  was  $90,834.24.  During  the  war  time,  Rock 
River  Conference  alone  reported  fifteen  Queen  Esther  girls  serving  as 
nurses  in  hospitals  of  the  United  States  and  overseas. 

The  Department  of  Children’s  Work  has  today  1 ,220  companies  of 
Mothers’  Jewels  and  772  of  Home  Guards,  with  a total  membership 
of  60,950.  The  total  money  raised  by  this  department  for  the  fiscal 
year  1919  was  $1  7,371.26.  The  watchful  support  of  these^  organiza- 
tions and  the  following  out  of  the  system  of  promotion  from  Jewels  to 
Guards,  from  Guards  to  Circle,  and  on  to  auxiliary,  is  one  of  the  most 
important  duties  of  the  individual  members  of  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society. 

CHILDREN’S  HOMES 

Mothers’  Jewels  Home— Much  interest  in  the  placement  of  the 
Mothers’  Jewels  Home  was  shown  among  the  newly  organized  young 
people  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  The  collection  of 


[178] 


money  for  this  Home  was  the  impetus  which  gave  the  new  department 
such  a successful  start.  After  much  deliberation,  York,  Neb.,  was  chosen 
for  the  location.  York  at  that  time  had  a population  of  5,000  people, 
good  schools,  good  churches,  commodious  homes,  electric  lights,  and  not 
a drop  of  liquor  in  the  place.  Such  an  ideal  location  commended  itself 
very  highly  to  the  committee  in  charge.  At  the  call  of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  citizens  assembled  to  meet  the  ladies  of  the  Society,  Mrs.  Ida 
Clark  and  Mrs.  Aiken,  and  agreed  to  raise  $10,000  for  the  Home  to 
be  located  one  mile  from  their  centre,  the  site  to  include  at  least  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres.  The  city  further  agreed  to  arrange  for  the 
disposal  of  a farm  at  Postville,  which  had  been  donated  by  a Dr.  Arm- 
strong. Dr.  Armstrong  and  the  little  waifs  which  he  had  gathered 
together  some  time  before  were  brought  to  the  new  Home. 

The  Mothers’  Jewels  Home  was  not  to  be  an  orphanage  in  the 
accepted  sense,  but  rather  a Christian  Industrial  Home,  admitting  any 
nationality  without  regard  to  sect.  The  Society  felt  that  in  founding 
this  institution  in  the  West  it  would  give  a greater  opening  to  the  children, 
as  the  growing  West  was  best  adapted  to  children’s  development  and 
offered  good  prospects  to  youthful  initiative.  The  first  report  from  the 
Home  (1894)  stated  that  the  year  began  with  the  small  Home  hospital 
full  of  little  patients  and  closed  with  fifty  children  well  and  strong.  They 
plotted  and  seeded  the  farm,  but  burning,  blistering  winds  came  upon 
the  young  crops,  and  instead  of  a Harvest  Home  festival  the  Mothers’ 
Jewels  had  empty  cellar  and  bin.  Among  the  early  comers  to  the  Home 
was  a little  Sioux  Indian  girl  called  Wachika  (little  one),  rescued  by  a 
missionary  to  the  Rosebud  Indains.  A little  Alaskan  Boy,  Ivan  Pen- 
koff,  came  two  years  later.  The  pride  and  pet  of  all  the  children,  he 
died  in  1 899  of  tuberculosis,  the  dread  malady  of  his  race.  Early  gifts 
to  this  orphanage  included  a piano,  free  music  lessons  for  the  girls,  and 
two  and  one-half  acres  of  land  for  fruit  and  flowers. 

Children  did  not  always  remain  permanently  in  the  Home,  but  were 
placed  in  Christian  homes  whenever  such  an  opportunity  arose.  During 
fifteen  years  as  many  as  one  hundred  and  sixteen  have  gone  through  the 
Home  in  a year,  and  the  static  number  has  reached  eighty.  One  year 
children  were  received  from  Alaska,  Missouri,  Colorado,  Iowa,  Utah, 
Montana  and  Indiana.  Thirty-three  were  Americans.  The  rest  were 


[179] 


Germans,  Bohemians,  Irish  and  Scandinavians.  The  majority  of  them 
were  between  five  and  nine  years  old.  The  youngest  arrival  was  an  infant 
ten  days  old,  found  rolled  up  in  an  old  shawl  near  a railroad  station  at 
York.  By  request  of  the  city  mayor  and  attorney  the  babe  was  given  to 
the  Mothers’  Jewels  Home.  In  1915  the  small  hospital  cottage  was 
turned  into  a baby-fold  for  the  seventeen  children  below  five  years  old. 
Not  only  babies  were  taken  into  the  Home.  One  of  the  first  lads  to 
prove  the  “stuff  that  was  in  him”  was  six  feet  high.  He  did  so  well 
at  school  that  an  opportunity  was  made  for  him  to  attend  the  Commercial 
College  at  Burlington,  Iowa. 

Thirty-five  children  were  sent  to  the  York  public  school.  By  and 
by  the  number  increased.  Then  the  city  school  board  requested  the 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  to  supply  one  teacher,  as  the  number 
of  children  sent  from  the  Home  made  it  necessary  to  hire  an  extra  one. 
To  save  this  expense  the  children  of  the  first  five,  and  later  of  the  first 
seven,  grades  were  taught  at  home  by  the  kindergarten  teacher, — the 
oldest  girl  in  the  Home  assisting  her. 

The  Mothers’  Jewels  children  had  industrial  training.  The  boys 
helped  with  farming,  garden  work  and  care  of  the  grounds.  They  pre- 
pared vegetables  for  cooking,  swept,  carried  water  and  assisted  with  the 
laundry.  The  girls  learned  to  sew,  to  cook,  and  to  help  in  dining  room 
and  laundry,  and  were  given  music  lessons.  The  kindergarten  averaged 
sixty-three. 

The  workers  were  not  forgetful  of  the  policy  of  training  for  self- 
support.  Broom-making,  shoe  and  harness  repairing,  and  chair  caning 
industries  were  launched.  Domestic  science  became  part  of  the  curric- 
ulum. Little  clubs  to  teach  Christianity  to  the  children  were  formed, 
i ne  girls  had  “Peacemaker”  clubs;  the  boys  “I  am  His”  clubs.  Besides 
the  faithful  service  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Spurlock,  the  corps  of  workers 
included  an  assistant  superintendent  and  teachers,  one  of  whom  was  a 
deaconess  and  a kindergartner. 

In  1 904  the  Home  was  visited  with  smallpox  and  whooping  cough. 

The  land  and  buildings  of  Mothers’  Jewels  Home  comprised  in  1 906 
one  hundred  and  seventy-two  acres  of  land  laid  out  in  campus,  vegetable 
and  floral  gardens,  vineyard,  orchards  and  farm,  and  four  buildings, — 


[ 180] 


the  main  building.  Memorial  Hall,  a three-story  brick  building;  the  farm 
cottage,  a square  frame  building  used  as  an  older  boys’  dormitory,  kitchen 
and  dining  room;  Stare  Cottage,  across  the  street,  used  for  the  kinder- 
garten; and  the  hospital,  an  enlarged  cottage  finally  used  for  the  ‘ baby 
fold.”  Last,  but  not  least,  were  the  Harnley  Pavilion  and  flower  garden. 
This  two  and  a half  acres  was  given  by  an  old  gentleman  known  as 
Father  Harnley  for  the  children’s  own  flower  planting.  It  had  an  orchard 
in  the  rear.  Since  1 906  money  has  been  gradually  collected  for  a new 
wing  to  the  Home,  to  be  known  as  Spurlock  Hall.  The  outbreak  of 
the  war  necessitated  postponing  this  much-needed  addition  and  Mothers* 
Jewels  Home  stands  today  as  in  1906,  with  two  exceptions.  In  1915 
the  loyal  people  of  York  spent  money  in  thorough  repairs,  when  a new 
laundry  and  heating  plant  were  installed,  a cement  foundation  to  the 
boys’  cottage  was  laid,  and  a fine  porch  was  built  across  one  side.  In 
1911  the  Home  received  a one  hundred  and  sixty  acre  farm  not  far  from 
York,  its  value  being  at  least  $20,000.  The  Mothers’  Jewels  Home, 
worth  $10,000  when  opened,  is  now  valued  at  $50,000. 

Watts  DE  Peyster  Home — The  Watts  de  Peyster  Home  in 
Tivoli,  N.  Y.,  was  given  to  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  in 
1894  by  Colonel  Watts  de  Peyster,  in  honor  of  his  Methodist  ancestry. 
It  is  situated  on  a ridge  overlooking  the  Hudson,  opposite  the  Catskills. 
This  rambling  old  house  was  used  as  a boarding  school  for  boys  before 
it  came  into  the  hands  of  the  missionary  society.  At  first  the  Society 
placed  Italian  girls  from  New  York  City  in  the  Home,  but  during  later 
years  any  needy  girl  has  been  admitted  if  there  was  room.  The  sad 
history  of  these  girls  is  carefully  buried  in  the  regular  life,  faithful  instruc- 
tion, and  firm  but  kindly  discipline  of  the  Home.  Very  shortly  they 
show  marked  change  in  their  physical  condition  and  spiritual  life.  Girls 
as  young  as  seven  years  are  taken  and  they  stay  until  eighteen.  The 
general  average  of  fifty  girls  all  study  hard  and  learn  sewing  and  cooking. 

A statistical  report  of  sixty-five  girls  ir^  the  Home  is  as  follows: 
Thirty-seven  Americans,  ten  German,  ten  Italian,  four  Irish,  three  Eng- 
lish and  one  Slavic  girl.  Among  the  gifts  that  have  enriched  the  Home 
and  broadened  its  opportunity  for  service  are:  Nine  acres  more  from 
Colonel  Watts  de  Peyster,  so  as  to  secure  a good  pond  for  the  property; 
furniture  and  china  from  the  Fisk  family;  and  $15,000  from  Mr.  B.  L. 


[ 181  ] 


Hoge,  the  interest  of  which  was  to  be  used  to  support  girls  in  the  Home. 
Years  previous  to  the  gift,  Mr.  Hoge  supported  six  girls  in  the  Home. 
The  girls  sleep  in  dormitories,  with  the  exception  of  the  few  older  ones. 
A bright,  cheerful  nursery  is  provided  for  the  wee  girls.  Down  the  slope 
from  the  main  building  is  a small  but  perfectly  equipped  hospital. 

Peek  Orphanage — -The  latest  addition  to  the  Children’s  Homes 
of  the  Society  is  Peek  Orphanage,  opened  in  1916.  The  property  con- 
sists of  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  acres  of  land,  four  and  a half  miles 
from  Polo,  111.,  and  a Home  already  outgrown.  This  was  the  gift  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  Peek  of  Polo. 

In  1916  the  Children’s  Homes  were  formed  into  a Bureau  for  Chil- 
dren’s Homes  and  were  thus  brought  under  the  oversight  and  care  of  a 
Bureau  Secretary.  A Negro  War  Orphanage  has  been  determined  upon 
to  be  paid  for  from  the  surplus  war  fund  of  the  Society.  Money  has 
been  appropriated,  but  the  location  for  this  splendid  project  has  not  been 
determined  upon. 

Conference  Children’s  Homes — As  a matter  of  course,  this 
form  of  work  makes  a strong  appeal  to  mother-hearts,  and  several 
orphanages  and  children’s  Homes  are  supported  by  Conference  organi- 
zations. Among  these  are  Cunningham  Orphanage,  Urbana,  111.; 
Bradley  Orphanage,  Hulton,  Penn. ; and  David  and  Margaret  Home, 
Lordsburg,  Cal.  j 


[182] 


Highways  and  Byways 


XII 


HIGHWAYS  AND  BYWAYS 


* * # 

DEPARTMENT  OF  FIELD  WORK 

AFTER  the  first  few  years,  when  the  pioneer  work  was  over  and  the 
b Society  had  Conferences  organized,  mission  fields  entered  and 
Woman’s  Home  Missionary  literature  and  leaflets  off  the  press,  the  lead- 
ers met  and  compared  reports  and  took  account  of  the  strength  and  weak- 
ness of  the  great  work  which  the  Society  had  laid  upon  itself  to  do.  They 
were  proud  indeed  of  the  showing  of  the  results  of  five  short  years. 
There  were  many  Conferences,  however,  that  were  not  fully  organized, 
as  the  term  is  used  today. 

At  present  the  entire  scheme  of  organization  calls  for  auxiliaries. 
Children’s  and  Young  People’s  Societies,  District  and  Conference  organi- 
zations. This  carries  with  it  payment  of  dues,  subscriptions  to  Woman  s 
and  Children  s Home  Missions  and  leaflet  literature,  payment  of  special 
pledges  and  recognitions  of  calls,  evangelism  and  the  Day  of  Prayer,  the 
thank  offerings,  and  the  emergency  funds. 

Any  woman,  young  woman  or  child  is  a member  of  the  Society 
who  pays  its  dues.  By  entering  the  Society,  which  exists  for  the  purpose 
of  supporting  mission  work  in  the  Homeland,  a woman  tacitly  agrees  to 
give  as  much  as  her  means  will  allow  toward  special  pledges.  It  is 
assumed  that  she  will  not  pass  by  the  opportunity  to  subscribe  to  the 
magazine  and  to  help  in  the  emergencies  which  lay  tribute  on  the  sym- 
pathy and  generosity  of  Christian  women.  That  they  may  not  fail  in  this 
supreme  privilege,  and  in  thankfulness  for  the  task  which  God  has 
assigned  them,  the  members  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
observe  an  annual  Day  of  Prayer.  In  1917  the  Lenten  offering  was 
established,  to  be  brought  in  on  Good  Friday.  It  should  be  a sacrificial 
offering.  This  day  is  now  Decision  Day  in  the  Homes  and  Schools 
and  Life  Service  Day  in  the  Young  People’s  societies. 


[ 185] 


In  1 889  a committee  was  appointed  to  organize  the  work  as  far  as 
possible  in  the  yet  unorganized  Conferences,  and  to  place  before  the 
indifferent  the  appeal  of  Home  Missions  through  personal  persuasion  and 
the  distribution  of  leaflets.  The  first  organizer  was  Mrs.  Col.  Springer. 
Two  National  organizers  were  at  work  in  1894.  One  reported  on  the 
committee  of  organization  and  one  on  the  field  at  large.  As  the  field 
grew  and  new  Conferences  were  organized  more  Field  Secretaries  were 
necessary.  Conferences  often  arranged  for  a woman  living  in  the  terri- 
tory to  be  made  organizer.  She  had  authority  by  appointment  of  the 
executive  board  to  present  the  work,  and  being  resident  in  the  section, 
she  could  more  easily  continue  a fostering  relationship  toward  newly 
organized  Conference  societies. 

In  1 898  there  were  three  organizers,  Mrs.  B.  S.  Potter,  Mrs.  M.  L. 
Woodruff  and  Mrs.  C.  W.  Gallagher,  besides  a deaconess  at  large,  Miss 
Iva  May  Durham.  The  deaconess’  special  work  was  the  enlisting  of 
pupils  for  training  schools.  In  1897  Prof.  Henrietta  Bancroft  was 
elected  Field  Secretary  for  deaconess  work,  her  duties  being  the  estab- 
lishing and  supervising  of  Deaconess  Homes. 

Many  other  consecrated  women  were  duly  elected  organizers.  They 
traveled  thousands  of  miles.  As  one  said,  “No  woman  could  travel 
those  distances  in  the  interests  of  mission  work  without  having  experi- 
ences.’’ Some  were  best  forgotten,  while  others  were  worthy  of  a cher- 
ished memory.  The  common  lot  of  all  these  good  women  was  to  travel 
at  all  hours,  in  winter  and  summer  heat;  on  passenger  and  freight  cars; 
in  trolley,  auto  and  auto  stage;  in  buggy,  stage-coach  and  road  wagon; 
and  on  foot;  through  sandstorm,  wind,  snow  and  rain.  Through  it  all 
they  bravely  went  to  prescribe  what  Mrs.  Cotton  Mather  called  “the- 
cure-for-ignorance  powders  in  the  shape  of  study  books,  papers  and  leaf- 
lets.’’ Oftentimes  it  was  difficult  to  understand  the  cause  for  a refusal 
to  be  allowed  to  present  Home  Missions,  especially  when  the  few  oppo- 
nents seemed  so  devoted  to  the  general  cause  of  Church  Missions.  One 
minister,  on  being  asked  if  the  representative  could  organize  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  in  his  church,  replied,  “No,  indeed!  Why, 
this  is  Home  Mission  ground.  The  Board  of  Home  Missions  pays  part 
of  my  salary.  Besides,  it  would  spoil  my  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary 
Society.  Why,  my  women  sent  $500  to  the  foreign  field  last  year.’’ 


[186] 


Mrs.  D.  C.  Geggie,  as  general  organizer,  addressed  Sunday-schools 
on  tithing  whenever  the  way  opened.  In  one  year  she  secured  1,712 
little  tithers  under  twelve  years  of  age.  In  1901  Mrs.  M.  L.  Woodruff 
used  the  happy  plan  of  giving  stereopticon  lectures,  which  she  declared 
proved  to  be  better  than  word  pictures  to  present  the  conditions  of  the 
homeland.  Even  though  provision  has  been  made  for  the  promotion  of 
the  children  and  young  people  into  adult  societies  as  they  reach  maturity, 
there  is  and  will  be  a great  field  for  new  organizations  of  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Societies  in  the  United  States.  The  great  number  of  organi- 
zations already  has  added  tremendous  wealth  and  power  to  the  Society, 
but  its  field  and  work  have  grown  apace.  Since  1916  this  organization 
work  has  become  a department  of  Field  Work,  with  a Department  Secre- 
tary and  a committee.  It  consists  of  a corps  of  Field  Secretaries,  a 
Student  Secretary,  and  speakers  at  large. 

In  1 9 1 8 six  regular  Secretaries  and  three  Reserve  Secretaries  were 
appointed  to  the  department  of  Field  Work.  Seventeen  Negro  Confer- 
ences were  cared  for  by  the  Negro  secretary,  Mrs.  Bulkley.  The  General 
Secretary  was  to  go  anywhere  in  the  field  at  all  times,  her  salary  to  be 
paid  by  the  General  Society,  and  her  expenses  to  be  paid  by  the  Con- 
ference which  she  served.  The  Conference  Field  Secretary  was  elected 
by  the  Conference  and  confirmed  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  the  salary  and 
expenses  being  met  by  the  Conference.  Authorized  speakers  are  those 
on  whom  the  department  of  Field  Work  can  call  for  service  where  needed. 

SCHOOLS  OF  Missions — An  enlargement  of  the  task  of  the  depart- 
ment of  Field  Work  has  come  about  with  the  growth  of  summer  schools 
of  missions,  both  Methodist  and  inter-denominational,  of  student  confer- 
ences and  the  demand  for  specially  trained  leaders  in  religious  work. 

Summer  schools  are  the  training  camps  of  Missionary  Societies  and 
are  admirably  equipped  at  this  time  to  prepare  leaders  for  the  reconstruc- 
tion work  of  the  nation.  Two  kinds  of  schools  have  been  visited  by  the 
secretaries  of  the  department  of  Field  Work  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society — the  denominational  and  the  inter-denominational. 
Among  the  Methodist  schools  are  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J.  held  under  the 
joint  leadership  of  the  Woman’s  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  societies. 
The  meetings  here  are  purely  program  meetings,  with  no  study  classes.  At 
Lakeside,  Ohio,  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  has  its  head- 


[187] 


quarters.  In  1915  a specially  successful  school  of  Home  Missions  was 
held  here  as  well  as  a Bible  Conference  and  school  of  methods  for  Sun- 
day-school workers.  The  summer  school  at  Lancaster  was  cared  for  by 
the  women  of  the  Ohio  Conference.  Other  schools  have  been  opened  at 
Bay  View  and  Epworth  Heights,  Mich. 

Among  the  inter-denominational  schools  which  attract  young  people 
and  mission  workers  from  all  the  churches  are:  The  Chautauqua  Home 
Mission  Institute,  under  the  direction  and  care  of  the  Council  of  Women 
for  Home  Missions,  where  the  Methodists  have  a Methodist  House; 
Northfield,  Mass. ; a summer  school  at  Winona,  Ind.,  near  Lake  Geneva, 
where  fifteen  different  denominations  have  enrolled;  at  Boulder,  Colo., 
where  people  come  from  twenty  states  and  Mission  Home  and  girls’ 
camp  are  the  outstanding  features;  at  Mount  Hermon  Federate  School 
in  the  Santa  Cruz  Mountains,  Cal. ; at  Minneapolis  and  in  Oklahoma. 

COLLEGE  Work — In  1910a  Student  Secretary  was  appointed  foi 
work  among  Methodist  Episcopal  students  in  schools  and  colleges,  her 
duty  being  to  come  into  personal  contact  with  Methodist  college  girls 
through  visits  to  colleges  and  to  Young  Women’s  Christian  Association 
Conferences;  to  secure  the  interest  and  co-operation  of  the  local  auxili- 
aries; to  do  follow-up  work  after  the  student  has  graduated,  keeping  in 
touch  with  her  until  she  is  a member  or  leader  in  an  organization  of 
the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society.  No  appropriation  for  traveling 
was  made,  so  the  Student  Secretary  took  the  first  year  to  place  on  file 
whenever  possible  the  names  of  undergraduates  who  were  desirous  of 
entering  some  form  of  Home  Mission  work,  and  names  and  data  concern- 
ing Methodist  girls  who  were  alumnae  and  wished  to  enter  the  Home 
Mission  field.  They  were  put  in  touch  with  District  and  Conference 
officers.  She  sent  out  literature  and  made  ten  visits  to  nearby  colleges. 

Data  gathered  in  1913  revealed  the  fact  that  1 20,000  girls  were 
in  colleges,  fifty-four  of  which  were  Methodist  colleges,  and  there  were 
besides  many  secondary  and  mission  schools.  To  get  in  touch  with  the 
girls  was  a task.  The  general  religious  interest  of  girls  in  colleges  is  with 
the  Young  Women’s  Christian  Association.  To  reach  Methodist  girls 
the  Student  Secretary  sought  an  opening  there  with  the  Association.  The 
largest  opening  was  through  the  summer  conferences  of  the  Young 
Women’s  Christian  Association.  At  that  time  this  organization  held 


[188] 


summer  conferences  in  seven  states, — North  Carolina,  Pennsylvania,  New 
York,  Wisconsin,  Colorado,  Oregon  and  Colifornia.  The  Student  Sec- 
retary of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  in  1918  stated  that  it 
was  difficult  to  reach  State  Universities,  because  there  was  no  point  of 
contact,  as  in  other  institutions  of  learning.  Workers  were  accustomed  to 
call  these  State  Universities,  “The  neglected  continent  in  the  Methodist 
world.” 

Kappa  Phi  clubs  have  been  organized  in  State  Universities.  These 
are  open  to  any  girl  who  is  a member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
or  who  is  from  a Methodist  Home  or  prefers  the  Methodist  church  while 
in  college.  The  motto  reveals  the  purpose  of  the  club,  “Every  univer- 
sity woman  of  today  a leader  in  the  church  of  tomorrow.”  The  duty  of 
the  auxiliary  members  is  to  search  out  every  Methodist  college  girl  in  the 
community  and  put  her  in  touch  with  the  Kappa  Phi  Club.  The  Kappa 
Phi  clubs  link  up  with  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  through 
the  study  of  its  work.  A very  important  phase  of  the  Field  Work  in 
latter  years  is  the  attendance  of  the  secretary  at  camp  meetings,  summer 
schools  and  assemblies.  The  Field  Secretary  has  emphasized  this  method 
as  effective  in  keeping  the  work  before  people  at  a season  when  visiting 
churches  is  impracticable,  and  as  a further  means  of  reaching  those  who 
otherwise  would  not  be  reached. 


[189] 


Methods 


\ 


XIII 


METHODS 


* * 

CHRISTIAN  STEWARDSHIP— It  might  be  supposed  that  forty  years  of 
collecting  money  and  building  up  an  intricate  organization  whereby 
women  in  one  part  of  the  country  were  affiliated  with  women  in  another 
part  of  the  country  in  a million-dollar  business,  or  that  the  enormous  detail 
of  purchasing  property,  remodelling  and  building  homes,  problems  of 
shipping,  rentals  and  insurance,  would  force  to  the  background  those 
saintly  qualities  which  the  world  expects  of  Christian  women.  That  this 
did  not  happen  is  due  in  part  to  methods  which  the  Society  adopted,  and 
to  the  calibre  of  its  women.  Under  the  Department  of  Methods  are 
listed  standing  committees  on  Christian  Stewardship,  Evangelism  and 
Inter-Denominational  Day  of  Prayer.  These  committees  worked  side 
by  side  with  those  who  carried  on  membership  campaigns,  who  sought 
missionary  candidates  and  who  distributed  mite-boxes.  Praying  and 
money  raising  were  done  together.  Women  sought  new  members  with 
the  tale  of  Christ’s  suffering  little  ones  on  their  lips.  The  whole  appeal 
of  the  army  of  workers  was,  “It  is  of  the  Lord.” 

Hebrew  stewardship  began  away  back  in  the  time  of  Abraham,  when 
one-tenth  was  laid  aside  for  Jehovah.  Christian  stewardship  began  with 
Christ’s  giving  his  all  for  those  who  were  in  dire  need.  The  custom  of 
tithing  was  encouraged  by  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  from 
the  days  of  the  Society’s  inception.  It  ranges  in  its  demands  upon  con- 
science from  the  pennies  of  the  Mothers’  Jewels  to  all  that  consecrated 
women  can  secure  for  the  work  of  the  Lord  in  Home  Mission  Fields. 

EVANGELISM — The  committee  on  Evangelism  has  labored  unceas- 
ingly to  increase  the  number  of  spirit-filled  intercessors.  Keeping  before 
the  busy  workers  the  law,  “Without  prayer  ye  can  do  nothing,’’  it  has 
sought  to  encourage  Bible  study  and  has  distributed  prayer  literature. 
The  observance  of  the  “morning  watch’’  and  noontide  prayer  was  inaugu- 


[193] 


rated  under  evangelistic  auspices.  Cottage  prayer  meetings  and  the  re- 
establishment of  family  altar  worship  has  been  emphasized  by  this  branch 
of  the  Society. 

SPECIAL  Days — The  Thank  Offering  was  inaugurated  in  1 890. 
In  1893  three  ladies  were  appointed  to  prepare  a program  for  Thank 
Offering  Day,  which  was  to  be  the  third  Thursday  in  November,  or  as 
near  that  day  as  was  practicable.  It  was  the  custom  of  members  of 
auxiliaries  to  meet  for  this  special  service  of  thanksgiving  and  to  lay  upon 
the  altar  whatsoever  they  could  bring  as  their  offering.  The  Thank 
Offering  was  reserved  for  missionaries’  salaries  by  later  action. 

Previous  to  1 892  Mrs.  J.  P.  Negus  had  been  influential  in  establish- 
ing a Day  of  Prayer  throughout  the  auxiliaries  in  her  conference.  This 
day  proved  so  profitable  that  the  Northwest  Iowa  Conference  sent  a 
memorial  to  the  Annual  Meeting  in  1893  inviting  all  the  Conferences  to 
join  in  a special  day  of  prayer  for  the  work  which  the  Society  was  led 
to  do,  for  its  mission  fields,  its  missionaries  and  the  children  under  its  care. 
In  1 894  a general  call  was  given  to  all  the  Home  Missionary  societies 
of  all  denominations  to  join  in  an  inter-denominational  day  of  prayer. 
For  twenty-five  years  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  designated 
the  last  Thursday  in  February  for  special  services  for  confession  and 
prayer,  but  in  191  8,  by  order  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  the  time  for  this 
day  of  prayer  was  changed  to  the  inter-denominational  date,  then  placed 
in  November. 

Membership  campaigns  have  been  carried  on  from  time  to  time  to 
increase  the  enrollment  under  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
standard.  Aside  from  securing  these  members,  was  the  delicate  task 
of  training  them  to  pay  their  dues  at  an  early  date.  This  has  led  to  an 
informal  selection  of  September  as  Dues-Paying  Day.  Much  depends 
on  the  ingenuity  of  the  leaders  in  this  work  to  arouse  enthusiasm  and  gain 
an  impetus  for  the  campaign  that  will  carry  it  to  a successful  issue.  The 
work  for  recruits  among  the  Mothers’  Jewels  and  Home  Guards  has 
always  been  appreciated. 

Life  membership,  whereby  an  auxiliary  selects  a specially  faithful 
worker  from  its  number  and  by!  paying  twenty  dollars  makes  her  a life 
member  of  the  Society,  has  been  stressed  by  the  managers  of  this  work. 
A membership  campaign  inaugurated  in  1915  led  up  to  the  celebration 


[194] 


of  the  Society’s  fortieth  birthday,  June,  1920.  As  a gift  to  the  Society, 
40,000  new,  paid  members  were  to  be  sought  during  the  anniversary  year, 
the  minimum  gift  for  each  Conference  to  be  four  hundred  recruits. 

PERMANENT  Funds — A permanent  missionary  as  well  as  deaconess 
fund  has  been  established.  The  income  from  this  fund  is  used  for 
missionaries  who  may  need  rest  or  medical  attention. 

Perpetual  Membership — The  annuity  idea  has  taken  form  in 
the  Perpetual  Membership  Fund.  Any  woman  can  become  a Perpetual 
Member  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  on  the  payment  of 
$30  into  its  general  treasury.  The  interest  on  this  sum  is  used  to  pay 
the  annual  dues  of  said  member  into  the  auxiliary  treasury  where  the 
membership  is  held,  and  this  payment  goes  on  after  her  death. 

Missionary  Candidates — It  is  a task  of  great  responsibility  to 
secure  adaptable  workers  for  the  Homes,  schools  and  mission  stations  of 
the  Society,  besides  teachers,  matrons  and  superintendents  for  other  insti- 
tutions under  its  jurisdiction.  In  early  years  missionary  teachers  were 
reported  by  the  Corresponding  Secretary  as  having  started  work  in  the 
Southland.  In  1 883  the  Committee  on  Missionary  Candidates  made  its 
first  report.  Seventeen  women  were  ready  to  go  into  Home  Mission  work 
when  called.  The  next  year  thirty-five  names  were  on  the  waiting  list. 
As  fast  as  the  work  was  opened  up  these  waiting  missionaries  were  placed. 
As  years  went  by,  faithful  workers  dropped  by  the  wayside.  There  was 
a growing  need  for  more  workers,  both  to  replace  those  whose  hands 
were  folded  and  to  fill  new  places  where  the  work  had  enlarged.  The 
committee  had  no  appointing  power,  but  recommended  workers  to  the 
Bureau  Secretaries.  The  individual  candidate  was  required  to  secure 
the  approval  of  her  Conference  officers  before  being  recommended  by  the 
Candidate  Committee.  The  requirements  for  service  were  consecration 
to  the  spiritual  uplift  of  humanity,  good  health,  education,  social  qualities 
which  would  make  the  worker  agreeable  to  live  with  and  work  with,  and 
a willingness  to  remain  at  her  post  so  long  as  conditions  were  satisfactory 
to  all  concerned. 

Missionary  Education — This  department  was  created  in  1917, 
succeeding  that  of  Reading  Circles  which  had  been  successfully  carried 
on  for  several  years.  Its  aims  have  been  stated  as  follows:  “To  give 
a knowledge  of  missionary  facts  and  problems:  to  rouse  the  interest  of 


[195] 


women  in  Home  Missions.*’  The  first  year  12,559  readers  of  mission- 
ary textbooks  and  leaflets  were  reported  from  reading  circles  and  study 
classes.  Five  hundred  diplomas  were  awarded  to  those  who  had  done 
the  required  reading.  Two  kinds  of  readers  were  recognized  by  the 
department, — those  who  read  the  textbook  only,  and  those  who  read  the 
required  textbooks,  Woman  s Home  Missions , and  selected  supplementary 
reading  for  three  years.  Honor  emblems,  pennants  and  diplomas  are 
among  the  awards  offered  by  the  department. 

TEMPERANCE — The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  very  early 
met  the  results  of  intemperance  on  the  fields  where  poverty,  sin  and  ignor- 
ance locked  arms  to  defeat  its  righteous  purpose.  It  taught  little  children 
to  beware  of  the  destroyer,  befriended  the  destitute  wife  of  the  drunkard, 
and  took  measures  to  undo  the  results  of  the  evil  habit  which  yearly  fast- 
ened itself  on  more  people.  By  1905  a Department  of  Temperance  was 
organized  to  carry  on  the  fight  against  all  forms  of  intemperance  that  in 
any  way  undermined  the  home.  At  first  the  leaders  of  the  department 
adopted  the  “do  everything’*  method,  until  a definite  type  of  temperance 
work  could  be  determined  upon  as  most  effective.  The  following  efforts 
were  made  during  this  period,  through  petitions  and  correspondence,  in 
connection  with  other  organizations:  “To  prevent  the  violation  of  the 
Prohibition  Law  by  interstate  commercial  facilities’’;  “to  prevent  the 
sale  of  liquor  on  ships,  in  parks  and  public  buildings’’;  “to  continue 
Prohibition  for  Indians  in  Oklahoma’’;  “to  secure  Sunday  closing  for 
the  Jamestown  Centennial  Exposition’’;  “to  submit  to  President 
Roosevelt  a petition  for  a universal  treaty  of  nations  to  forbid  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  and  opium  to  savage  races.’’  The  organization 
of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  lent  itself  most  readily  to  the 
circulating  of  petitions.  Seventeen  Conferences  had  secretaries  of  tem- 
perance. Petitions  were  signed  and  sent  in  from  each  Conference  when 
the  Department  of  Temperance  gave  the  word.  On  demand,  yards  of 
such  petitions  would  be  sent  to  the  National  Capitol.  In  1914  four 
petitions  were  circulated  and  forwarded  to  the  proper  authorities:  1 . For 
National  Constitutional  Prohibition.  2.  For  Child  Labor  Protection. 
3.  For  Reinstating  the  Bible  in  the  Public  Schools  of  Illinois.  4.  For 
the  Establishing  of  Police  Matrons.  This  department  held  meet- 
ings in  jails  and  penitentiaries,  and  distributed  Bibles  and  temperance 
literature. 


[196] 


In  1917  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  helped  to  win 
Prohibition  for  Porto  Rico.  It  sent  in  a petition  asking  for  the  ceasing 
of  exportation  of  rum  to  Africa.  The  women  distributed  1 46,61  6 pages 
of  free  temperance  literature.  One  of  its  leaders  spent  $5,000  of  her 
own  money  to  help  stamp  out  the  liquor  traffic.  In  1917  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  sent  a petition  again  to  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives calling  attention  to  the  wise  examples  of  Russia,  Alaska  and 
Porto  Rico.  In  1918  its  members  who  had  the  franchise,  helped  elect 
men  to  state  legislatures  who  were  pledged  to  vote  for  the  Constitutional 
Prohibition  Amendment.  The  Society  sent  out  pleas  for  War-Time  Pro- 
hibition. It  urges  and  secures  temperance  teaching  in  Sunday-schools, 
and  co-operates  with  other  temperance  organizations  in  securing  scientific 
temperance  instruction  in  public  schools.  Gold  medals  in  some  places 
have  been  awarded  for  prize  essays  on  temperance. 

War  Work — There  could  be  no  finer  illustration  of  the  results  of 
the  work  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  than  in  the  patriotic 
response  of  its  wards  to  the  call  to  the  colors  during  the  World  War. 
Indian  boys  from  the  plains,  Negro  boys  from  the  schools,  lads  from 
the  orphanages  and  members  of  the  settlement  clubs,  all  marched  away 
to  serve  their  country.  Not  only  did  student  girls  go  into  service,  but 
Queen  Esther  girls  from  the  Society  at  large  served  at  home  and  abroad 
as  nurses.  While  the  work  of  the  Society  was  largely  of  the  type  required 
to  keep  home  fires  burning,  all  the  time,  energy  and  money  that  could 
possibly  be  spared  was  devoted  to  war  work.  No  new  enterprise  was 
started.  Wherever  they  could  mark  time  in  the  march  toward  bigger 
things  they  did  so.  Wherever  sacrifice  could  be  carried  beyond  the  slen- 
der margin  to  which  the  Homes  were  accustomed,  they  retrenched.  While 
service  flags  waved  over  portals,  those  remaining  worked  for  the  Red 
Cross. 

The  General  Society  opened  every  possible  channel  to  war  work. 
On  November  23,  1917,  a joint  meeting  of  officials  of  the  Woman’s 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  and  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
was  held  in  Philadelphia.  It  was  decided  to  create  “The  Woman’s 
War  Council  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,’’  composed  of  three 
official  representatives  of  each  society,  together  with  three  women  from 
the  church  at  large.  The  council  was  to  have  no  executive  authority,  but 


[197] 


to  act  as  a clearing  house  for  the  war  work  of  both  societies,  each  society 
working  out  its  own  plans.  Five  sessions  of  the  Woman’s  War  Council 
were  held.  The  ladies  representing  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  were  Mrs.  M.  L.  Woodruff,  Mrs.  Mary  Fisk  Park  and  Mrs. 
D.  B.  Street. 

One  of  the  most  serious  problems  before  the  nation  was  what  to  do 
with  the  mothers,  wives  and  sweethearts  of  the  soldiers  in  camp.  They 
were  anxious  to  be  as  near  their  soldiers  as  possible.  Some  Methodist 
hostess  houses  were  built  by  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension,  and  in  these  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  sup- 
ported deaconesses  and  mission  workers.  An  outstanding  work  was  at 
Camp  Dix,  where  the  Society  equipped  and  conducted  the  Center  built 
by  the  Board  of  Home  Missions.  Another  important  field  was  at  the 
Great  Lakes  Training  Station. 

At  some  places  layettes  and  children’s  clothes  were  in  demand. 
Travelers’  Aid  deaconesses  were  at  hand.  At  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  a 
Home  was  opened  for  girls  and  seven  deaconesses  were  at  work.  Twenty- 
eight  camp  and  war  workers  were  kept  busy.  The  Boston  Immigrant 
Home  cared  for  interned  women  and  children.  Orphans  were  taken  into 
the  Children’s  Homes  of  the  Society. 

A conditional  appropriation  of  $50,000  for  1918-19  was  made. 
Each  member  was  asked  for  sixty  cents  a year,  each  Queen  Esther  girl 
to  give  twenty-five  cents  a year.  Ten  cents  and  five  cents  were  asked  from 
the  Home  Guards  and  Mothers’  Jewels  respectively. 

Centenary  Co-operation — The  Society  pledged  to  support 
every  part  of  the  Methodist  Centenary  Campaign  and  stressed  the  pro- 
gram of  stewardship,  of  prayer  and  of  life  service. 

Department  of  Literature — A bureau  of  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  implies  some  part  of  the  mission  field  for  which 
an  appropriation  is  made  for  maintaining  work  there.  This  field  is  also 
the  recipient  of  pledge  money  and  special  gifts.  The  Departments  may 
include  a number  of  bureaus,  such  as  the  Deaconess  Department  or  the 
Department  of  Bureaus  and  Standing  Committees  of  Homes,  Schools 
and  Mission  Stations;  or  they  may  be  organic  divisions  of  the  Society, 
such  as  the  Young  People’s  Department  or  the  Children’s  Department, 


[198] 


not  receiving  moneys,  but  instead  helping  to  support  work  on  the  mission 
field.  The  Immigrant  Department  does  not  have  a specific  mission  field, 
but  includes  relief  work  at  the  ports  of  entry  in  San  Francisco,  New 
York  and  Boston.  This  peculiar  and  exacting  ministration  to  thousands 
is  quite  field  enough  for  mission  work  and  receives  an  appropriation. 
Three  other  departments  claim  the  attention  of  the  student  of  Home 
Mission  history,  for  without  them  the  work  would  suffer  from  stagnation, 
from  financial  depression  and  from  indifference. 

A history  of  the  Department  of  Literature  includes  that  of  Woman  s 
Home  Missions , Childrens  Home  Missions , general  publications,  and 
the  annual  report. 

Woman’s  Home  Missions — This,  the  official  organ  of  the  Society, 
was  provided  for  in  1 884.  Those  women  of  early  days  who  had  genius 
for  organization  as  well  as  missionary  fervor,  decided  that  an  official 
organ  was  essential  to  the  work.  Its  purpose  would  be  to  acknowledge 
receipts  of  money  and  goods,  to  give  information  of  new  organizations, 
and  to  furnish  interesting  letters  from  missionaries  concerning  their  fields. 
It  would  communicate  also  valuable  information  to  the  church  in  regard 
to  the  extent  and  work  of  the  Society.  Mrs.  McCabe’s  story  of  how  the 
first  editor  was  chosen  for  this  ambitious  program  is  of  historical  interest: 
“I  sat  by,  an  observer.  Two  ladies  raised  their  heads  from  a close  con- 
sultation. Mrs.  Whetstone  said,  ‘I  move  the  Woman’s  Home  Mission- 
ary Society  have  a paper,  of  which  Mrs.  Bugbee  and  Mrs.  McCabe  shall 
be  editors.*  My  heart  stood  still  at  being  brought  to  a decision.  During 
the  silence,  Mrs.  Davis,  Chairman,  arose  from  her  seat  and  in  a whisper 
said,  ‘Calista,  don’t  you  refuse.  It  is  of  the  Lord.’  Well,  I used  to  edit 
the  paper  for  our  literary  club,  so  I accepted.  Mrs.  S.  B.  Thomson 
appeared  to  my  mind.  I selected  her  as  publisher  and  put  on  my  wraps 
and  went  and  told  her  so.  She  declined ; thought  it  was  new  work,  and 
did  not  like  any  more  public  burdens.  She  inquired  if  we  would  be 
responsible  for  the  debts  of  the  paper.  I said,  ‘Yes;  we  sign  the  contract, 
but  the  Executive  Board  is  back  of  us  and  will  never  let  us  go  to  prison.’ 
Next  an  old  friend  of  mine  showed  me  the  types  to  use  in  this  and  that 
instance,  and  showed  me  how  to  make  up  a ‘dummy.’  A saintly  woman 
in  my  Home  suggested  the  first  poem,  ‘Do  Ye  Nexte  Thynge!’  and  the 
Central  Life  Insurance  Company  gave  us  the  first  advertisement.  The 


[199] 


second  brought  in  fifty  dollars,  for  an  advertisement  from  Mr.  James 
DeCamp.  According  to  printers’  judgment,  the  first  issue  was  pret- 
tier than  all  that  have  followed.” 

The  publication  interests  were  judiciously  managed  and  Womans 
Home  Missions  paid  all  expenses  from  the  beginning.  The  first  issue 
was  a modest  monthly  of  eight  pages,  three  of  which  were  devoted  to 
advertising.  The  subscription  price  was  twenty-five  cents.  A list  ol 
six  hundred  names  came  in.  The  first  set  came  from  Evanston,  111.,  and 
Woman  s Home  Missions  opened  a bank  deposit  of  $4.50.  That  first 
cornerstone  list  included  six  cities:  Evanston,  Cincinnati,  Anamosa,  Bos- 
ton, Reno  and  Peru.  By  the  end  of  the  year  4,500  names  were  on  the 
mailing  list.  The  editor  and  publisher  soon  became  aware  that  Woman's 
Home  Missions  people  were  pushing  the  subscription  list  with  enthusiasm, 
and  that  people  in  general  were  both  ignorant  and  indifferent  about  the 
homeland.  The  next  year  Mr.  J.  R.  Wright  gave  the  paper  a mailing 
machine.  The  paper,  still  twenty-five  cents  a year,  was  doubled  to 
sixteen  pages. 

Some  of  the  early  problems  in  meeting  expenses  included  the  great 
question  as  to  whether  they  should  go  back  to  smaller  size,  or  raise  the 
subscription  to  thirty-five  cents,  or  ask  for  appropriations  from  general 
funds,  or  give  more  space  to  advertisements.  A standing  business  com- 
mittee of  three  was  formed  to  whom  a financial  report  was  made  monthly. 
Remuneration  of  the  publisher  and  editor  was  fixed  at  three  hundred 
dollars  each,  and  for  an  assistant  two  hundred  dollars.  All  ladies  were 
urged  to  secure  subscriptions,  renewals  and  advertisements. 

From  the  beginning  of  Woman's  Home  Missions , the  editors  con- 
stantly reminded  their  readers  that  the  organ  was  for  the  Society  and 
was  an  agency  called  into  existence  to  serve  the  Society.  In  other  maga- 
zines the  profit  went  to  the  proprietor,  but  in  the  case  of  Woman's  Home 
Missions  it  went  to  the  Society.  The  success  of  the  paper  depended 
upon  the  loyal,  faithful,  voluntary  efforts  of  the  membership. 

In  1887  one  column  of  Woman's  Home  Missions  was  reserved  for  a 
circular  letter  for  the  Reading  Circle.  As  the  work  increased,  the  annual 
report  grew  very  large,  so  some  portions  were  printed  in  the  magazine, 
thus  lessening  the  expense  of  the  annual  report.  The  Concert  Study, 


[200] 


introduced  in  1 890,  helped  subscriptions  to  the  paper.  In  the  same  year 
two  bi-monthly,  four-page  supplements  to  W omans  Home,  Missions  were 
added.  The  first  of  these,  devoted  to  deaconess  work,  was  edited  by 
Mrs.  J.  W.  Bashford.  The  second,  for  children’s  work,  was  understood 
as  leading  toward  a children’s  paper.  All  names  of  Mothers’  Jewels 
were  published  in  the  children’s  supplement,  besides  bright  picture  stories. 
No  advertisements  appeared  here  unless  especially  pleasing  to  children. 

Paper  and  supplements  were  twenty-five  cents  a year,  and  Woman  s 
Home  Missions  was  not  only  increasing  its  subscription  but  also  giving 
accurate  knowledge  of  mission  fields  to  its  readers.  One  man,  while 
working  in  Mexico,  stumbled  upon  a copy  of  the  paper.  After  reading 
it  he  said  that  nothing  was  more  pointed  or  more  correct  than  the  article 
on  New  Mexico  written  by  a bureau  secretary. 

In  1891  W omans  Home  Missions  came  out  with  twenty  pages  and 
a colored  cover,  and  costing  thirty-five  cents  a year.  This  same  year  the 
publication  of  supplements  was  suspended  and  a column  for  deaconess 
work  was  edited  by  the  Deaconess  Bureau.  A page  of  the  paper  was 
devoted  to  young  people’s  work  under  the  direction  of  the  Young  People’s 
Bureau.  In  1894  The  Deaconess  at  Worfc,  published  for  two  years 
under  the  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  Training  School  and  Deaconess  Home, 
was  united  with  Woman’s  Home  Missions . The  reasons  for  this  union 
were  as  follows:  The  addition  of  a department  so  important  as  the 
deaconess  work  would  add  to  the  interest  and  value  of  the  paper.  It 
would  be  impossible  for  a department  even  as  large  as  the  deaconess  to 
support  a periodical  without  sameness  of  method,  or  occupying  the  ground 
of  church  papers  and  the  Society’s  organ.  It  was  determined  that 
Woman’s  Home  Missions  should  include  all  the  work  as  a unit  under 
one  cover.  This  necessitated  the  addition  of  four  pages  to  the  paper. 

In  1 900  the  headquarters  of  the  paper  were  changed  from  Delaware, 
Ohio,  to  New  York  City,  where  the  publication  of  the  paper  was  com- 
bined with  that  of  the  leaflets.  The  advertisements  were  placed  under 
the  care  of  advertising  agents,  who  should  choose  such  advertisements  as 
were  in  harmony  with  the  wishes  of  editor  and  publisher.  Several  pages 
were  given  over  to  deaconess  work.  A series  of  articles  valuable  to  the 
Society  as  historical  records  appeared  during  1898-1900,  written  by 
Mrs.  T.  L.  Tomkinson. 


[201] 


The  magazine  changed  once  more  to  a white  cover,  since  it  would 
give  added  space  for  a picture  or  a pointed  article  of  special  interest. 
Furthermore,  in  binding  the  issues  the  outside,  with  the  new  type  of  cover, 
could  be  included.  In  January,  1917,  the  office  of  the  two  magazines, 
Womans  Home  Missions  and  Children  s Home  Missions , was  changed 
to  Cincinnati,  the  headquarters  of  the  Society. 

During  its  thirty-six  years  Woman  s Home  Missions  has  had  three 
editors, — Mrs.  H.  C.  McCabe,  from  1 884  to  1 902 ; Miss  Martha 
VanMarter,  from  1902  to  1917;  and  Mrs.  Levi  Gilbert,  from  1917; 
for  the  greater  part  of  this  time  Miss  Mary  Belle  Evans  was  publisher. 
A history  of  the  ways  and  means  by  which  the  paper  was  built  up  cannot 
portray  its  influence  nor  the  literary  merit  and  the  personality  of  the  intel- 
lectual and  spiritually  minded  women  who  carried  the  responsibility  of 
literary  production  and  financial  management,  and  tactfully  levied  upon 
busy  secretaries  and  missionaries  alike  for  facts  concerning  the  mission 
field.  The  results,  however,  can  be  clearly  chronicled  in  the  growth  of 
certain  departments  essential  to  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  Society.  The  Thank  Offering,  the  Day  of  Humiliation  and 
Prayer,  and  the  tithing  system  of  religious  finance,  have  all  been  encour- 
aged and  carried  on  by  the  paper  as  “something  helpful  to  the  church 
and  vital  to  the  prosperity  of  the  country.’* 

“Woman’s  Home  Missions  is  a technical  magazine.  Its  right  to  a 
place  on  your  table  is  based  on  its  claim  that  it  is  the  organ  of  one  of  th«. 
greatest  woman’s  societies  in  the  country.  It  furnishes  the  direct  means 
of  communication  between  the  fields  of  labor  and  the  women  of  the 
auxiliaries,  upon  whose  efforts  all  our  financial  resources  depend.*’ 

In  1895  recommendations  for  a children’s  paper  were  made  as  fol- 
lows: It  should  be  eight  pages,  size  6|/s  x 8 inches;  it  should  be  printed 
on  supercalendared  paper,  40  pounds  to  the  ream;  the  name  should  be 
Children’s  Home  Missions ; the  subscription  should  be  fifteen  cents,  allow- 
ing, however,  ten  copies  addressed  to  one  person  at  ten  cents  each. 

The  first  issue  was  1 ,000  copies.  Miss  VanMarter  was  made  editor 
and  Miss  Mary  Belle  Evans,  publisher. 

The  reasons  given  for  establishing  a children’s  paper  were  that  it 
would  reach  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  child  during  its  most  susceptible 


[202] 


years.  This  early  impression  would  be  most  enduring.  The  paper  also 
would  be,  as  in  the  case  of  the  adult  paper,  a valuable  help  in  organizing. 
Mothers  would  be  educated  through  their  children.  The  material  in 
Children  s Home  Missions  would  open  avenues  of  activity  to  children. 
For  twenty- four  years  the  “little  paper’*  has  been  going  into  the  homes 
of  Home  Guards  and  Mothers’  Jewels,  while  in  many  instances  local 
auxiliaries  have  paid  for  subscriptions  thereto,  and  placed  it  in  the  primary 
and  junior  departments  of  the  Sunday-school.  The  subscription  list  has 
grown  to  26,464.  This  is  a great  achievement  in  the  light  of  the  fact 
that  the  list  of  individual  subscribers  to  a children’s  paper  is  estimated  to 
change  completely  every  four  years. 

General  Publications — The  leaflet  literature  has  had  a phe- 
nominal  growth.  In  1 883  ten  leaflets  were  published.  This  was  looked 
upon  with  great  favor,  since  the  workers  thought  that  there  was  a wide 
field  in  Home  Missions  for  such  literature.  The  care  of  leaflets  was 
left  to  Mrs.  E.  E.  Marcy,  and  they  were  sent  from  her  home  in  Evans- 
ton, 111.,  to  the  auxiliaries.  After  Mrs.  Marcy  had  given  up  the  leaflet 
distribution  it  was  transferred  to  New  York  and  placed  in  charge  of  Miss 
VanMarter.  In  1890  direction  was  given  to  hold  the  type  of  articles 
published  in  Woman  s Home  Missions , which  should  have  wider  circula- 
tion, so  that  leaflets  might  be  struck  therefrom  as  the  editor  and  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  publication  might  advise. 

All  Conferences,  Districts  and  local  auxiliaries  were  earnestly  re- 
quested to  appoint  a secretary  of  literature  whose  duty  would  be  to  dis- 
tribute leaflet  supplies.  Recommendations  were  made  to  the  effect  that 
no  leaflet  should  be  printed  over  the  imprint  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  without  being  accepted  by  the  leaflet  editor.  The  secre- 
tary of  each  bureau  was  expected  to  furnish  material  for  leaflets  on  her 
respective  bureau  work. 

In  early  days  much  of  the  material  for  leaflets  was  secured  from 
the  type  sheets  of  Womans  Home  Missions.  Now  and  then  one  was 
written  for  a definite  purpose. 

The  present  editor  says  that  she  was  fortunate  in  entering  the  work 
with  an  inheritance  of  wise  plans  and  helpful  material.  It  must  not  be 
supposed,  however,  that  three  quarters  of  a million  leaflets  could  be  dis- 


[203  ] 


tributed  over  and  over  again  without  fresh,  attractive  material  being  added 
to  the  leaflet  files. 

This  work  since  1 906  has  been  done  by  the  editor  and  business 
manager.  Miss  Alice  M.  Guernsey.  More  than  a hundred  and  fifty 
leaflets,  booklets  and  books  listed  in  the  latest  catalog  are  from  her 
scholarly  pen. 

Anyone  examining  the  back  of  mite-boxesi  will  see  why  they  take 
their  place  with  leaflet  literature.  A regular  system  of  lesson  Helps 
for  the  inter-denominational  study  course  provides  monthly  material  for 
Auxiliary,  Circle  and  Home  Guard  programs.  The  study  plan  is  based 
on  six  lessons  on  six  chapters  of  the  inter-denominational  textbook,  and 
six  on  other  themes  connected  with  the  work  of  the  Society.  The  fortieth 
anniversary  year  sees  the  attainment  of  its  goal  of  4,000  regular  sub- 
scribers (auxiliaries  and  circles)  to  the  Senior  Study  Course.  A Junior 
Study  Course  has  also  been  established. 

In  1906,  reporting  for  the  committee  on  Home  Mission  Study 
Course,  Miss  Guernsey  defined  the  work  of  the  committee  as  lying 
between  that  of  the  Reading  Circle  on  one  hand  and  the  Department 
of  Publication  on  the  other.  It  was  desirable  to  keep  the  record  and  to 
know  the  number  of  text  books  ordered.  In  1907  Inter-demominational 
conferences  were  held  at  Winona  Lake  and  Silver  Bay,  and  the  cause 
of  inter-denominational  Home  Mission  study  was  greatly  helped.  At 
present  an  inter-denominational  committee  representing  Woman’s  Home 
Missionary  societies  of  eleven  denominations  secures  the  textbook  each 
year  for  the  inter-denominational  Mission  Study  Course. 

In  February,  1906,  representatives  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  the 
editor,  and  the  office  secretaries  of  the  Department  of  Literature  met 
officially,  on  call  of  the  National  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  D.  L. 
Williams.  Among  the  results  were  the  unifying  of  the  work  by  establish- 
ing  one  central  or  publishing  office  and  several  branch  offices,  a uniform 
system  of  bookkeeping  for  all  offices,  and  one  official  catalogue. 

Reading  Circles — Energetic  managers  and  publishers  of  literature 
were  constantly  reminding  the  constituency  that  a Society  carrying  50,000 
uninformed  members  was  not  equipped*  for  its  best  service.  It  was  a 
mistake  to  ask  for  the  giving  of  money  by  people  who  Had  no  knowledge 


[204] 


of  the  work.  Neither  could  a Society  in  any  of  its  connections  grow 
steadily  unless  its  individual  members  could  present  the  information  and 
ideals  with  which  the  Society  worked.  People  would  be  much  like  the 
small  boy  who  was  quoted  as  saying,  “It  is  rather  difficult  and  pretty 
impossible  to  convey  to  others  those  ideas  which  you  are  not  yourself 
possessed  of.” 

The  logical  step  was  to  form  Reading  Circles,  and  there  were  begun 
in  1887,  the  object  being  to  lay  “before  our  families  of  the  Woman’s 
Home  Missionary  Society  in  concise  and  brief  form  the  condition  of  our 
country  in  a sense  not  confined  to  its  missionary  needs.  There  was  to  be 
one  general  Reading  Circle,  the  only  condition  being  the  reading  of  one 
or  more  selected  books.  Womans  Home  Missions  was  to  contain  a 
column  for  a circular  letter  from  the  secretary  of  the  Reading  Circle. 

The  first  set  of  readings  were  Womans  Home  Missions , “Our 
Country,”  by  Josiah  Strong,  and  “A  Century  of  Dishonor,”  by  Helen 
Hunt  Jackson.  Those  planning  Reading  Circles  aimed  to  systematize 
the  course  of  reading  so  that  it  should  consist  of  a few  books  well  chosen. 
The  next  group  of  books  was:  “Alaska,”  by  Dr.  Jackson;  “Modern 
Cities,”  by  Loomis;  “An  Appeal  to  Caesar,”  by  Tourgee;  “The  Mor- 
mon Problem,”  by  Ford;  “The  Deaconess,”  by  Jane  Bancroft;  and 
“In  Memoriam,  Lucy  Webb  Hayes,”  by  Mrs.  John  Davis.  A motion 
was  passed  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  1 890  that  these  Reading  Circle 
books,  constituting  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  Library,  be 
put  in  all  the  Deaconess  Homes  and  in  such  other  Homes  and  Training 
Schools  as  were  able  to  profit  by  them. 

ANNUAL  Report — One  might  suppose  that  the  “publications”  of 
the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  had  been  included  under  the 
papers,  books  and  leaflets.  But  there  was  still  a very  important  one, — 
Annual  Reports, — including  the  constitution  of  the  Society,  addresses  on 
special  topics  made  at  the  Annual  Meetings,  minutes  of  these  meet- 
ings, etc. 

A “Twenty  Years’  History  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society”  was  written  by  Mrs.  T.  L.  Tomkinson  in  1901.  Other 
volumes  on  various  lines  of  work  have  been  issued  during  the  years.  A 
classified  catalogue  makes  the  publications  easily  available. 


[205  ] 


SUPPLIES — bor  many  people  the  only  touch  with  missions  is  the 
recollection  of  the  Missionary  Barrel  which  their  mothers  helped  pack 
years  ago.  If  we  are  to  believe  the  accounts  of  the  facetious  joker, 
more  went  into  those  Missionary  Barrels  than  was  ever  listed  in  the  books 
kept  by  the  faithful  superintendent  of  supplies.  It  is  a far  cry  from  the 
early  days  of  supply  work,  when  barrels  of  second-hand  garments  were 
sent  to  the  frontier,  to  the  present  when  only  suitable  garments  in  good 
condition  will  pass.  It  is  a far  cry,  too,  from  those  days  when  wool  was 
wool  and  shoes  wore  and  clothes  were  lasting,  to  the  present  time  when 
the  newness  of  a garment  is  no  guarantee  of  its  wearing  quality. 

Like  other  departments,  that  of  supplies  originated  in  a natural,  laud- 
able attempt  to  meet  the  difficulties  of  supporting  industrial  work  in  the 
South.  In  1 882  a committee  reported  that  the  missionaries  needed  mate- 
rial to  carry  on  their  industrial  schools,  such  as  patches  and  cloth  for 
sewing  classes,  needles,  thread,  etc.  There  was  need  also  of  supplies  for 
the  destitute.  The  women  of  the  Society  were  asked  to  collect  garments 
for  the  needy,  and  to  cut  and  prepare  simple  garments  for  making  which 
could  be  used  to  teach  sewing.  Each  auxiliary  was  to  prepare  the  box, 
pay  the  freight,  and  send  a list  of  the  contents  and  estimated  value  to  the 
committee  having  direction  of  supply  work. 

In  1 883  the  Department  of  Supplies  was  organized.  Auxiliaries 
were  to  inform  the  superintendent  of  supplies  of  their  intention  to  send  a 
box.  A list  of  articles  in  the  box  was  filled  out,  and  this,  together  with 
freight  or  express  receipt  was  mailed  to  the  superintendent,  who  kept 
record  thereof.  In  1 892  Conferences  were  requested  to  elect  Conference 
and  auxiliary  secretaries  of  supplies.  The  secretary  was  to  write  to  the 
general  secretary  of  supplies  for  directions  as  to  where  to  send  barrels, 
was  to  receive  necessary  measurements  for  garments  needed,  and  to 
endeavor  to  secure  reduced  transportation  rates.  No  credit  was  given 
for  supplies  sent  out  without  the  approval  of  the  secretary  of  supplies  in 
the  auxiliary  where  the  box  or  barrel  was  packed.  The  local  secretary 
of  supplies  was  to  fill  out  the  pastor’s  vouchers  with  the  aggregate  sum 
of  money  thus  used  for  Home  Missions  and  the  value  of  the  supplies 
donated.  This  was  to  be  signed  by  the  local  treasurer  and  given  to  the 
pastor  to  present  to  his  Conference  statistical  secretary. 


[206] 


These  first  barrels  were  sent  South  to  relieve  conditions  there,  but 
very  soon  requests  for  the  donation  box  came  from  the  West  for  ministers 
on  the  frontier.  The  women  were  amazed  at  the  want  in  the  parsonage 
revealed  in  the  winter  of  1 884.  The  churches  were  new,  people  were 
in  straitened  circumstances,  the  missionary  appropriations  of  the  Mission- 
ary Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  were  necessarily  small. 
Thirty-five  churches  at  once  responded  to  the  need  of  ministers’  families 
on  the  frontier.  At  first  boxes  and  barrels  were  sent  to  the  presiding 
elders,  who  distributed  them  to  the  ministers  under  their  care,  but  this 
did  not  prove  to  be  an  economical  arrangement,  since  it  necessitated 
repacking  and  reshipping.  The  method  of  having  them  sent  directly  to 
the  minister  was  established. 

The  Supply  Department  had  a growing  business  on  its  hands.  Not 
only  did  it  have  the  furnishing  of  materials  for  the  schools  and  barrels 
for  the  ministers,  it  also  was  called  upon  to  provide  furnishings  for  the 
Society’s  Industrial  Homes.  Interest  in  the  department  waxed  strong. 
Enthusiasm  ran  high.  New  auxiliaries  were  organized.  Queen  Esther 
Circles  cut  out  garments  for  the  Southern  girls  to  sew,  and  packed  Christ- 
mas boxes  for  the  little  orphans  at  Mother’s  Jewels  Home  and  elsewhere. 
Once  in  a while  a barrel  meant  for  the  Indians  would  reach  a parsonage, 
or  one  packed  for  the  North  would  arrive  at  a Southern  plantation.  But 
such  mistakes  were  rectified  and  were  very  few  compared  with  the  num- 
bers sent  out  by  the  zealous  workers. 

Through  Chaplain  McCabe  all  cases  of  need  coming  to  the  Mission- 
ary Society  in  New  York  City  were  turned  over  to  the  Bureau  of 
Supplies  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  New  York 
Conference.  The  boxes  sent  to  the  frontier  contained  clothing  for  the 
family,  theological  books  in  the  prescribed  Conference  course  of  study 
for  the  young  minister,  Bibles,  hymnals,  organs  and  libraries  for  help  in 
services.  Heavy  fur  coats  for  the  minister  to  wear  when  traveling  his 
circuit  with  the  thermometer  thirty  degrees  below  zero  were  also  included. 

Very  soon  new  garments  had  the  right  of  way.  In  1905  a circular 
letter  was  sent  to  the  Conferences  urging  a low  valuation  on  second-hand 
garments.  In  fact,  it  was  thought  wise  to  put  no  value  on  them  at  all. 
Later  it  was  resolved  that  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  securing  a uniform 
scale  of  valuation  on  second-hand  articles  donated,  all  secretaries  should 


[207] 


be  instructed  that  beginning  with  the  year  1 905-06,  second-hand  articles 
should  be  reported  by  number  instead  of  by  estimated  cash  value.  In 
1906  the  Department  of  Supplies  ministered  to  one  thousand  families. 
Twenty-five  fur  coats  went  to  ministers.  Twenty  rag  carpets  were  sent 
to  as  many  parsonages,  and  numberless  Christmas  boxes  were  packed  for 
individual  Homes  and  orphanages.  Second-hand  garments  to  the  number 
of  87,240  were  also  supplied. 

A harder  winter  followed.  Fuel  and  foodstuffs  were  high;  salaries 
would  hardly  buy  the  groceries.  The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 
Society  said:  “We  will  not  fail  them.’’  So  great  faith  did  these  frontier 
families  have  in  the  Missionary  Barrel  that  they  cheerfully  accepted  hard 
places  if  they  were  assured  that  a Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
barrel  would  be  sent  for  the  parsonage  family  there. 

In  1913  the  president  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
recommended  the  formation  of  a Sustentation  Bureau,  for  the  purpose  of 
supplementing  the  salary  of  Methodist  Episcopal  ministers  throughout  the 
church  wherever  a man  received  $500  or  less  a year.  After  an  extensive 
correspondence,  the  secretary  of  this  new  Bureau  revealed  some  astonish- 
ing facts:  “Fifty-one  replies  gave  the  following  results:  1,400  ministers 
received  less  than  $500,  six  hundred  had  parsonages,  eight  hundred  were 
without  parsonages.  If  this  ratio  should  continue  throughout  the  Con- 
ferences yet  to  be  heard  from,  at  least  3,000  servants  of  the  Most  High 
would  be  found  trying  to  build  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  in  this  highly 
favored  land  at  this  time  of  the  high  cost  of  living  on  a support  wholly 
inadequate  to  meet  their  daily  needs,  a condition  so  startling  as  to  drive 
Methodism  to  its  knees.’’ 

Sustentation  Conferences  were  those  conferences  which  retained 
twenty-five  cents  from  membership  dues  to  be  expended  by  the  Conference 
Society  for  its  own  needy  ministers.  By  1917  thirteen  conference  socie- 
ties were  caring  for  their  own  needy  preachers.  A question  arose  as  to 
whether  the  church  should  not  soon  be  able  to  care  for  its  own  pastors. 
The  time  did  not  look  propitious  since  “perplexing  questions  relative  to 
work  in  the  South  were  unanswered  and  since  new  territory  was  being 
opened  up  in  the  great  Northwest.’’ 

In  1914  the  plan  of  retaining  one-half  of  the  dues  was  abolished.  All 


[ 208  ] 


Conferences  desiring  to  become  Sustentation  Conferences  were  directed 
to  make  application  through  the  Bureau  secretary  to  the  Board  of  1 rus- 
tees.  In  1915  the  bureau  of  sustentation  was  merged  with  the  Depart- 
ment of  Supplies.  That  year  Sustentation  Conferences  paid  for  needy 
ministers  $6,625.50. 

During  the  years  of  the  World  War  normal  conditions  were  gone. 
The  sources  of  supplies  were  in  Homes  where  the  stress  of  war  had 
entered.  The  distribution  of  supplies  was  handicapped  by  Government 
problems  of  transportation.  But  the  calls  were  urgent.  The  Society 
must  needs  support  the  orphanages  where  were  the  children  bereft  of 
fathers  by  the  war.  Ministers  never  were  so  needy.  Supplies  for  Indus- 
trial Homes  and  hospitals  were  essential.  The  latest  cash  report  was 
$ 1 2 1 ,64 1 . 1 2,  besides  fur  coats  for  the  men  of  the  Northwest,  linens  for 
the  emergency  hospital  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  provision  for  the  deaconess 
at  work,  clothing  for  the  sick,  and  assistance  for  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  ministers. 

Surely  helpfulness  is  the  keynote  of  the  Department  of  Supplies. 


[ 209  1 


In  Review 


XIV 


IN  REVIEW 

* * 

“He  that  putteth  his  hand  to  the  plow, 
looking  back,  is  not  worthy  of  the  Kingdom.” 

THE  United  States  Government  has  a class  of  men  in  its  fighting 
corps  who  are  picked  men.  They  are  selected  for  splendid  physique 
and  unerring  eyesight.  They  are  well-poised,  crack  shots  and  trained  to 
fight  anywhere,  at  any  time,  on  land  or  sea.  These  men  are  known  to 
the  world  as  the  United  States  Marines. 

The  Home  Missionaries  are  the  Society’s  marines.  They  are  the 
best  workers  that  careful  selection  and  specialized  training  can  produce. 
They  are  ready  to  go  anywhere  and  do  anything  on  the  great  Home 
Mission  field  that  their  leaders  may  request.  During  forty  years,  they 
have  cleaned  up  bad  spots  in  Christian  America  as  thoroughly  as  the 
Marines  wiped  out  the  machine-gun  nests  in  France.  They 
have  been  as  tender  and  skillful  in  their  ministrations  as  the  Red  Cross 
nurse.  They  have  been  the  faithful  army  on  the  firing  line,  where  it  was 
hard  and  dangerous  and  where  privations  and  sufferings  were  a necessary 
part  of  the  work.  Many  times  their  appointments  were  far  out  on  the 
prairies,  where  the  red  Indian  roamed,  still  battling  against  the  civilization 
that  claimed  him.  They  were  sent  to  the  far  Northland,  where  separation 
from  home  and  loved  ones  was  as  complete  as  anywhere  on  the  globe. 
Far  to  the  South  the  hot,  dry  winds  of  desert  towns  would  sap  the 
strength  of  the  missionaries  as  they  struggled  for  a hearing  in  the  Mexican 
quarters  of  the  refugees  from  over  the  border.  In  city  streets  as  foreign 
as  any  street  in  Canton  they  walked  with  courage  derived  from  prayer 
and  faith  in  God.  With  surpassing  patience  they  wrestled  with  the  per- 
plexities of  foreign-speaking  strangers.  In  crowded  slums  they  ministered 
to  the  sick  and  dying.  There  is  no  part  of  our  land  where  these  Home 
Mission  “Marines”  are  not  known. 


[213] 


Much  of  their  success  turned  on  their  intuitive  knowledge  and  keen 
perception.  They  not  only  expounded  the  Scriptures,  but  also  showed 
varied  ability  in  digging  wells,  laying  foundation  walls,  curing  whales; 
they  could  explain  methods  of  irrigation,  lead  in  prayer  or  teach  a kinder- 
garten. They  performed  with  equal  dignity  and  high  degree  of  excellence 
the  duties  of  squatter,  homesteader,  farmer,  detective,  navigator,  nurse, 
financier,  housekeeper,  amanuensis,  teacher,  preacher  and  linguist.  They 
were  brave  almost  to  foolhardiness. 

Again  and  again  they  have  returned  to  the  work.  Their  labors  have 
been  appreciated  by  the  great  army  at  home.  At  each  morning  watch 
some  women  prayed  for  the  missionaries.  At  the  noontide  hour  they 
lifted  again  their  petitions  to  the  Heavenly  Father  for  the  work  done  at 
so  great  a cost.  Auxiliaries  and  Conference  societies  have  levied  on  work 
basket,  linen  closet,  pantry  shelves,  storage  rooms  and  pocketbooks  of 
their  respective  communities  for  gifts  for  the  missionaries  and  their  work. 
Forty  years  of  such  history  could  never  have  been  written  if  the  entire 
constituency  had  not  caught  the  gleam  of  Kipling’s  lines: 

“It  ain’t  the  individuals, 

Nor  the  army  as  a whole, 

But  the  everlastin’  team  work 
Of  every  bloomin’  soul.” 

When  missionaries  finally  bade  farewell  to  the  field  where  they  toiled 
and  builded  so  well,  the  Society  returned  with  memorials  to  their  faithful 
service. 

The  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  has  had  great  leadership.  The  early  group  of  leaders  demon- 
strated their  peculiar  abilities  in  the  perfection  of  organization  which  they 
developed  side  by  side  with  experimental  work  in  the  South.  The  last 
decade  of  history  has  produced  another  group  of  leaders  who  have  done 
an  equally  brilliant  thing  in  leading  the  deaconess  movement  to  a climax 
of  city  mission  work,  with  its  network  of  Deaconess  Homes  and  settle- 
ments over  the  entire  country,  with  its  scholarly  and  influential  training 
schools,  and  its  marvelous  hospitals.  The  greatest  tribute  to  these  leaders 
is  the  recital  of  their  philanthropies:  “By  their  deeds  ye  shall  know 
them.”  That  the  first  president  of  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary 


[214] 


Society  should  be  Mrs.  Lucy  Webb  Hayes,  wife  of  the  president  of  the 
United  States,  gave  the  Society  distinction.  That  its  first  Corresponding 
Secretary  should  be  the  gifted  Elizabeth  Rust  gave  the  Society  a hearing 
among  the  leaders  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  That  among  the 
pioneers  of  its  missionary  work  should  be  the  dean  of  a woman’s  college 
and  a professor  of  English  literature  gave  the  support  of  the  educated 
women  of  the  country.  That  through  all  the  years  women  of  means  and 
social  influence  have  rallied  to  the  standards  of  the  Society  has  given  it 
power.  That  women  of  special  ability  and  rare  Christian  character  have 
devoted  themselves  to  the  fulfillment  of  its  great  and  difficult  tasks  has 
given  it  success. 

On  June  8,  1920,  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  will  celebrate  its  fortieth  birthday.  The 
members  of  the  Society  have  been  zealous  in  providing  a suitable  anni- 
versary gift  as  a crowning  effort  to  forty  years  of  ardent  work  and 
brilliant  achievement  upon  the  Home  Missions  Field.  Statistically,  this 
gift  stands  as  40,000  new  members,  40,000  new  subscriptions  to  the 
organ  of  the  Society,  Womans  Home  Missions , and  $80,000.  In 
reality,  this  combined  force  of  personality,  propaganda  and  money  will 
be  used  to  provide  for  loving  care  of  deaconesses  and  missionaries  when 
they  have  become  “sunset  members,’’  and  to  enlarge  and  develop  two  of 
the  national  training  Schools  of  the  Society, — the  McCrum  National 
Training  School  for  Slavonic  Young  Women  at  Uniontown,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  the  San  Francisco  National  Training  School. 

Not  only  have  the  women  realized  the  need  of  trained  workers  as 
crucially  important;  they  have  also  recognized  the  strategic  hour  for 
reconstruction  of  work  already  grown  to  large  proportions,  involving 
tremendous  responsibility  and  offering  the  greatest  opportunity  for  Chris- 
tian service  that  has  yet  been  given  to  women  of  America.  Committees 
of  survey  were  appointed  who  were  to  visit  the  institutions  of  the  Society, 
with  power  to  make  investigations  on  the  field  and  to  recommend  im- 
provements that  would  lead  to  the  betterment  of  equipment  and  educa- 
tional facilities.  As  a result  of  these  surveys  the  following  reconstruction 
measures  are  being  carried  out: 

A new  Church  and  Mission  House  for  the  Indians  at  Yuma, 
Arizona;  changes  and  repairs  at  the  New  Jersey  Conference  Home, 


[215] 


Morristown,  Tennessee;  a new  domestic  science  room  at  Rebecca 
McCleskey  Home,  Boaz,  Alabama;  equipment  for  a domestic  science 
room  and  living  rooms  at  Haven  Home;  a building  at  Asheville,  North 
Carolina,  used  for  the  younger  girls  from  Allen  Industrial  Home;  new 
equipment  at  Browning  Home,  Camden,  South  Carolina;  the  establish- 
ment of  an  advanced  Seminary  and  training  school  for  Negro  girls  and 
women;  the  building  of  a Negro  Orphanage;  a new  building  for  Brewster 
Hospital  at  Jacksonville,  Florida;  additional  buildings  for  Mothers’ 
Jewels  Home,  York,  Nebraska,  and  Peck  Orphanage,  Polo,  Illinois. 
The  surveys  have  included  the  institutions  for  Negroes  and  the  Southern 
white  work;  the  Spanish  Bureau  of  the  Southwest;  the  missions  to  the 
Indians  and  the  varied  lines  of  work  on  the  Pacific  Coast;  the  Slavonic 
Training  School  and  the  work  among  the  Slavs.  A survey  of  Alaskan 
work  is  contemplated. 

This  reconstruction  work,  together  with  the  special  development 
of  the  National  training  schools,  is  now  engaging  the  attention  of  the 
best  equipped  corps  of  workers  the  Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  could  put  upon  its  field. 

To  further  strengthen  the  educational  phase  of  their  mission  work, 
an  educational  secretary  has  been  appointed  whose  duty  is  to  visit  all  the 
schools  of  the  Society  and  to  make  such  recommendations  to  the  Trustees 
and  Bureau  Secretaries  as  may  be  needed  to  increase  the  efficiency  of 
teachers  and  schoolroom  methods,  and  to  see  that  these  schools  conform 
to  the  State  requirements  of  education. 

The  surveys  have  included  the  institutions  for  Negroes  and  the 
Southern  White  Work,  the  Spanish  Bureau  of  the  Southwest,  the 
missions  to  the  Indians  and  the  varied  lines  of  work  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
the  Slavonic  Training  School  and  the  work  among  the  Slavs. 

A survey  of  Alaskan  work  is  contemplated. 


